Common Oak Moth

Phoberia atomaris · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Erebidae

Damages trees, gardens or crops. The common oak moth larvae chew oak leaves and can cause noticeable defoliation of oak trees.

Adults have a wingspan of about 38 mm. Moths are active from March through July, depending on location.

Size

The wingspan measures roughly 38 mm.

You’ll find this moth throughout North America, from eastern Canada to the Gulf Coast and as far west as Kansas and Texas.

The caterpillars feed on oak trees, including northern red oak.

It has one generation per year, and most leaf loss occurs in spring.

Adults are on the wing from March to July, varying with latitude.

Its native range covers the same area: Quebec, Ontario, Florida, Kansas, and Texas.

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Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist

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Source: GBIF

Does the common oak moth damage trees?

Yes, its larvae eat oak leaves and can cause noticeable defoliation of oak trees.

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.