Phaeoura mexicanaria

Phaeoura mexicanaria · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Geometridae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Phaeoura mexicanaria
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0

The moth has a wingspan of about 40 to 50 millimetres. It lives in parts of North America such as British Columbia, California, Texas and Washington. Its caterpillars eat pine trees.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Wingspan ranges from 40 to 50 mm.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

Larvae feed on species of pine.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 14 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Colorado, Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, California, Nevada, Utah.

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

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Phaeoura mexicanaria photo 2
Photo: Laura Gaudette, CC BY
Phaeoura mexicanaria photo 3
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0
Phaeoura mexicanaria photo 4
Photo: Colin Croft, CC BY
Phaeoura mexicanaria photo 5
Photo: Tom Kennedy, CC BY

Same family (Geometridae)

Willow BeautyWillow BeautyPeribatodes rhomboidariaPale BeautyPale BeautyCampaea perlataLarge Lace-border MothLarge Lace-border MothScopula limboundataDamages trees, gardens or cropsSouthern Pine and Cypress AnglesSouthern Pine and Cypress AnglesMacaria bicolorataRiband WaveRiband WaveIdaea aversataYellow Shell MothYellow Shell MothCamptogramma bilineata

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaeoura_mexicanaria

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

Text written 2026-10-25 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-25.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.