Moths of the Czech Republic: Identification Quiz and Guide to Night-Flying Moths

Identification quiz: test your knowledge of Czech moths

Can you tell a privet hawkmoth from an oleander hawkmoth? Do you know which moth found in the Czech Republic has the largest wingspan in Europe? Find out in the quiz – choose a difficulty level and start!

A guide to the most interesting Czech moths

We present eight species that can be seen in the Czech Republic or that every nature lover should know about. They include rare protected species and representatives of various families – from proud hawkmoths and elegant underwings to tiger moths as colourful as butterflies.

Privet hawkmoth – Sphinx ligustri

The privet hawkmoth is one of the largest and most beautiful moths in Bohemia. The adult has a wingspan of 90–120 mm; the forewings are brown with dark veins, the hindwings strikingly pink with dark bands. It flies in June and July and visits flowering lilacs, petunias or tobacco plants at dusk, drinking nectar while hovering like a hummingbird.

The caterpillar is green with purple diagonal stripes along its sides and bears the typical curved "horn" at the end of its body – a characteristic feature of the whole hawkmoth family (Sphingidae). It feeds on the leaves of lilac, privet and ash. It pupates in the ground, where it overwinters. The species is widespread throughout Central Europe and is not rare in suitable habitats – gardens, parks and forest edges.

Giant peacock moth – Saturnia pyri

The giant peacock moth is the largest moth in Europe – its wingspan reaches 105 to 160 mm. Each of its four wings has a large eyespot with a black centre, which serves to frighten off predators. The adults do not eat at all – after emerging they live for only a few days, with reproduction as their only goal.

In the Czech Republic it is a critically endangered species – it appears on the red list as almost extinct. Isolated records come mainly from South Moravia, from warm, shrubby habitats and old orchards. The caterpillar grows up to 10 cm long and is bright green with blue warts; it feeds on the leaves of fruit trees, walnuts or ash. Major threats are pesticides sprayed in orchards and artificial lighting, which attracts the moths and exhausts them.

Small emperor moth – Saturnia pavonia

Unlike its giant relative, the small emperor moth is fairly common in the Czech Republic. The males fly by day in April and May and are conspicuous thanks to their orange hindwings with a blue eyespot – they are easily mistaken for butterflies. The females are larger, greyish and fly only at night. Males have impressive feathery antennae with which they pick up the female's pheromones several kilometres away.

The caterpillars are polyphagous – they feed on heather, raspberry, hawthorn, hazel and dozens of other plants. They are therefore typical of heathland, peat bogs and open woodland, where they survive even the harsher conditions of the Ore Mountains or the Šumava. The cocoons overwinter close to the ground and are superbly camouflaged.

Clifden nonpareil (blue underwing) – Catocala fraxini

The Clifden nonpareil is one of the largest members of the Erebidae family and our most beautiful underwing. Its forewings are perfectly grey with a fine dark pattern – an excellent imitation of the bark of ash or poplar, on which the species rests. When disturbed, it instantly reveals its hindwings with a striking blue or violet-blue band on a black background – so-called flash colouration, which confuses predators.

It flies from July to September in floodplain forests and tree-lined avenues along rivers – in the Czech Republic especially along the Elbe and the Morava and in the floodplain forests of South Moravia. The caterpillars hatch in early spring, feed on the leaves of ash and poplar and are very hard to find thanks to their greenish-grey colour. In Czech, the whole group is named "stužkavci" ("ribbon moths") after the coloured band on the hindwings.

Oleander hawkmoth – Daphnis nerii

The oleander hawkmoth is a migrant – it does not live in the Czech Republic permanently, but individuals occasionally fly in from the Mediterranean and North Africa, most often in August and September. It is one of the most colourful European hawkmoths: its wings are covered with a mosaic of green, white and pink in a geometric pattern. The body is strikingly green with white markings.

The caterpillar is green or brown with a blue or yellow eyespot near its head – it visually imitates a snake's head. It feeds on the leaves of oleander, periwinkle and other subtropical plants; in the Czech Republic it can exceptionally survive on garden oleanders. The species is a great rarity for entomologists – every find is an exciting event. If you grow oleanders on a balcony or in a garden in Prague or Brno, you are in with a chance – the moth turns up most often there.

Garden tiger moth – Arctia caja

The garden tiger is the best-known tiger moth (subfamily Arctiinae) in the Czech Republic. Its forewings are brown with a white pattern resembling an irregular mosaic, and its hindwings are deep orange with blue or black spots – warning colours that tell predators the species is poisonous (or at least tastes unpleasant). Its wingspan reaches 45–80 mm.

The caterpillar – known as the "woolly bear" – is covered in long, dense hairs in a combination of black, red and brown. It is extremely polyphagous: it feeds on the leaves of nettles, docks, dead-nettles, raspberries and dozens of other plants. The adult moths are nocturnal, but the caterpillars can be seen by day warming themselves in the sun. The species is still relatively common in the Czech Republic, but it has been declining in intensively farmed landscapes in recent decades. Its favourite places are field margins, meadows with nettles or gardens with a herb layer – if you have a herb bed in your garden, you may well meet one. For keen herb growers, AMADEA offers practical herb markers and labels to keep your herb beds clearly labelled.

Pine hawkmoth – Sphinx pinastri

The pine hawkmoth is a specialist – its caterpillars feed on pine needles and, more rarely, on spruce. That is why you will find it mainly in pine forests on sandy lowland soils – typically around Česká Lípa and Doksy, in Central Bohemia or the White Carpathians. The adult moth is grey with dark stripes, which let it blend perfectly with pine bark; it flies in May and June.

The caterpillar is green with pale lengthwise stripes and a dark reddish horn at the end of its body. Unlike its relative the privet hawkmoth, the pine hawkmoth caterpillar is only found on conifers. The species is less common in the Czech Republic than the privet hawkmoth, but it can be locally more numerous in pine monocultures. Larger numbers are reported every few years from northern and Central Bohemia.

Death's-head hawkmoth – Acherontia atropos

The death's-head hawkmoth is one of the best-known and spookiest moths in the world – on its thorax it carries a pattern resembling a human skull, which gave it both its scientific and common names (Acheron = the river of the dead, Atropos = the Fate who cuts the thread of life). It belongs to the hawkmoth family (Sphingidae) and reaches a wingspan of 95–135 mm. It is a migratory species – individuals fly in from North Africa and the Mediterranean.

The species is fascinating acoustically too: when disturbed, the adult moth makes a shrill squeak by drawing air in through its proboscis – it is one of the very few moths that make audible sounds. The caterpillars feed on the leaves of potatoes and other nightshade plants; the adults are able to enter beehives and steal honey. The moth gained worldwide cultural fame thanks to the poster of the thriller The Silence of the Lambs.

The most common mix-ups and how to avoid them

Even experienced naturalists sometimes confuse related species. Here are the three most common mix-ups with Czech moths:

A comparison of selected Czech moths

Frequently asked questions about Czech moths