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How to identify it
- The adult is velvety black on the body and wings, with a wingspan of about 3/4 to 1 inch. Each forewing has a large white patch, usually notched on its inner edge, and each hindwing has a large red to orange patch. In good light the forewings show metallic highlights.[1]
- It is a moth, not a butterfly: butterflies have club-tipped antennae and usually thinner bodies.[1]
- The caterpillar is whitish with thin black bands around the body, usually four per segment, and is humped at the rear. It reaches about 3/4 inch. The head, the plate just behind it and the plate on the rear hump are rusty or reddish with black spots, and there is a single rusty or reddish band near the hind end. A diffuse orange patch with a round black spot sits above the prolegs, the fleshy legs on the abdomen.[1][2]
Look-alikes
| Look-alike | How to tell them apart |
|---|---|
| Eight-spotted forester | Another day-flying moth on grapes and Virginia creeper. The adult is black with two large white spots on each wing and orange on its legs, but no red or orange on the wings. Its caterpillar has long white hairs and seven or eight black rings per segment.[1][2] |
| Beautiful wood-nymph caterpillar | Also humped at the rear and banded black on white, but it has more black stripes per segment and several extra orange bands along the body rather than a single reddish band near the hind end.[1] |
Where it lives
MDC describes it as widespread in the eastern United States and statewide in Missouri, in woodlands, woodland borders and hedgerows.[1]
Biology and life cycle
There is one generation a year. Adults fly in early spring, usually from late March to early May with a peak in April. They take nectar from wild plum blossoms and may also visit hawthorns, swamp privet and redbud, and they reportedly sip moisture and minerals from damp soil near puddles.[1][2]
Females lay their eggs on grapevines. The caterpillars eat the young leaves of grapes, including wild grapes, and Virginia creeper, feeding from shelters they make by drawing up the edges of a leaf and tying it with silk or by tying a few leaves together. Caterpillars are found from late April to June.[1][2]
By late spring or early summer the caterpillars are full grown and move into soft wood or other secure plant material to pupate. They overwinter as pupae, and the adults emerge the next spring.[1]
Its fast, erratic flight helps it escape birds and other predators that hunt by sight. MDC notes that it is apparently not toxic or distasteful, so its bold colors may be a bluff.[1]
Damage and signs
- The caterpillars eat young grape and Virginia creeper leaves in spring. MDC says it does not seem to be a major pest of cultivated grapes: wild grapes are plentiful, and the short, early caterpillar season leaves vines all summer to grow new leaves.[1]
Health risk
MDC notes that moths don't sting, and neither source mentions any bite or other risk to people.[1][2]
Control
Prevention
Neither source recommends any control. MDC describes the grapevine epimenis as a well-established breeding resident and a welcome sign of spring rather than a major grape pest.[1][2]
Common questions
- Is the black, white and orange insect on my plum blossoms a butterfly?
- In early spring it may well be the grapevine epimenis, a day-flying moth. Unlike butterflies it lacks club-tipped antennae, and it usually has a thicker body.[1]
- Will grapevine epimenis caterpillars ruin my grapevines?
- MDC says it does not seem to be a major pest of cultivated grapes. The caterpillars feed for a short time early in the season, which leaves the vines the summer to grow new leaves.[1]
- Why do I find grape leaves folded over and tied with silk in spring?
- Grapevine epimenis caterpillars make shelters by drawing up the edges of a leaf, or by tying a few leaves together, and feed from inside.[1][2]
Sources
- Missouri Department of Conservation, “Grapevine Epimenis (Field Guide).” mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/grapevine-epimenis (accessed 2026-11-09)
- USDA Forest Service, Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team, “Caterpillars of Eastern Forests, FHTET-96-34 (D. L. Wagner, V. Giles, R. C. Reardon and M. L. McManus, November 1997; scanned copy).” archive.org/details/caterpillarsofea001997 (accessed 2026-11-09)
- iNaturalist, “Psychomorpha epimenis taxon page (order and family).” www.inaturalist.org/taxa/60774 (accessed 2026-11-09)