30 Types of Moths in Oklahoma: From Giant Silk Moths to Garden Pests
October 19, 2026
Most Oklahomans will never meet most of the state’s moths. The types of moths in Oklahoma include palm-sized silk moths that never eat as adults. They also include thumbnail-sized slug moths whose caterpillars look like tiny living cushions. One database page, the Moth Photographers Group Oklahoma list, shows 2,179 species records for moths and butterflies in the state.
This guide covers 30 of them, from porch-light regulars to cornfield pests. Each entry explains what the moth looks like, what its caterpillar eats, and when or where Oklahoma gardeners, farmers, and backyard naturalists are most likely to find it. Oklahoma’s mix of eastern woodlands, tallgrass prairie, and western wheat country gives these insects plenty of habitat. For a broader look at the group, see this overview of different types of moths.
The table below sorts the moths in this guide by the family or group they belong to. It also shows where in Oklahoma people usually run into them.
| Moth Group | Examples in This Guide | Where Oklahomans Usually See Them |
|---|---|---|
| Sphinx Moths (Sphingidae) | Waved Sphinx, White-Lined Sphinx | Flower gardens at dusk, porch lights |
| Giant Silk Moths (Saturniidae) | Cecropia Silk Moth | Woodlands, suburban lights in late spring |
| Slug Moths (Limacodidae) | Button Slug Moth, Hag Moth | Oak and hardwood leaves (as caterpillars) |
| Geometers (Geometridae) | Faint-Spotted Angle, Lesser Maple Spanworm, Barberry Geometer, Bent-Line Carpet, Common Lytrosis | Forest edges, shrubs, lawns |
| Owlet and Dart Moths (Noctuidae) | Gold Moth, Corn Earworm, Dart Moth, Army Cutworm | Fields, gardens, lights |
| Snout and Crambid Moths | Celery Leaftier, Clover Hayworm, Dimorphic Tosale | Vegetable plots, hay, weedy edges |
| Bagworms (Psychidae) | Evergreen Bagworm, Bagworm Moth | Cedars, junipers, and arborvitae |
Important Note: Species counts for Oklahoma differ by source. Insect Identification lists 571 butterflies and moths, and the ButterflyIdentification.org database lists 467 Oklahoma moths. The gap reflects different databases and counting methods, and none of them is a complete census. To see how wide the range gets worldwide, read about how many types of moths there are.
1. Button Slug Moth
Button slug moths are small, tan-to-brown members of the slug moth family. The Early Button Slug Moth (Tortricidia testacea) and the Red-Crossed Button Slug Moth (Tortricidia pallida) are both on the Oklahoma species list kept by the Moth Photographers Group. Their name comes from the rounded markings on the folded wings.
The caterpillars matter more than the adults here. They are flat and oval, with no obvious legs, and they glide across hardwood leaves like slugs. Oak, hickory, and other deciduous trees in eastern Oklahoma are the best places to check in summer.
2. Ambiguous Moth
The Ambiguous Moth (Lascoria ambigualis) lives up to its name. It is a modest grayish-brown owlet moth with wavy lines that blend into bark and dry leaves. It appears on the Oklahoma list from Insect Identification, alongside hundreds of other butterflies and moths.
Most people notice it only when it lands near a porch light or a window screen at night. In daylight it rests flat and still, which makes it easy to overlook on fence posts and tree trunks.
3. Waved Sphinx Moth
The Waved Sphinx Moth (Ceratomia undulosa) is a big, gray-brown hawk moth with a body like a small cigar. Photographers on Oklahoma Insect Photos have documented the Waved Sphinx Moth among the state’s sphinx moths. Wavy dark lines cross the forewings, and the wingspan can pass three inches.
Its caterpillars eat ash, privet, and fringe tree leaves, so yards with those plants may host them. Adults visit light at night and sip nectar from tubular flowers.
4. Evergreen Bagworm Moth
The Evergreen Bagworm Moth (Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis) is one of the most recognizable moths in the state, even though few people ever see the adult. It occurs in Oklahoma and across the eastern United States. The caterpillar builds a spindle-shaped silk bag and covers it with bits of foliage, which it drags around as it feeds.
Eastern redcedar, juniper, and arborvitae are the usual hosts. The Oklahoma State University Entomology Museum groups moths like this one in the family Psychidae, the bagworms. Males grow wings and fly off in autumn. Females stay wingless inside the bag.
Common Mistake: Many homeowners spray evergreens in fall or winter, when the bags are already full of eggs. Treatments aimed at young caterpillars work best in late spring and early summer, before the bags grow large.
5. Faint-Spotted Angle Moth
The Faint-Spotted Angle Moth (Digrammia ocellinata) is a small geometer that often flies at night in many states, including Oklahoma. Its pale gray wings carry faint dark spots and fine lines. Geometers get their family name from the caterpillars, which loop along twigs like inchworms.
Adults rest with their wings spread flat, a posture common among angle moths. A list of insects in Texas shows many similar small geometers just across the Red River.
6. Gold Moth
The Gold Moth (Basilodes pepita) is one of the few moths that earns its name at first glance. The forewings shine in yellow-gold with darker, ridged markings and a metallic look. Its caterpillars feed on wingstem and crownbeard plants in the sunflower family, which grow along Oklahoma roadsides and creek bottoms.
Look for adults from late summer into fall. Because the moth is so bright, it stands out against dull leaf litter when it lands near a light.
7. Grape Leaf Skeletonizer Moth
The Grape Leaf Skeletonizer Moth (Harrisina americana) flies by day and looks more like a beetle than a moth. It is blue-black with a reddish collar. Both the Grapeleaf Skeletonizer and the Western Grapeleaf Skeletonizer appear in the county-by-county Oklahoma moth species list.
The caterpillars are the problem for vineyard owners. They feed side by side on grape and Virginia creeper leaves and leave only a lacy network of veins behind. Small backyard vines can lose a lot of foliage fast.
8. Hag Moth
The Hag Moth (Phobetron pithecium) is best known for its caterpillar, also called the monkey slug. It is a brown, hairy-looking blob with curled, limb-like appendages that look more like a tarantula’s molted skin than a caterpillar. Hag Moth is on the list of Oklahoma insects kept by Insect Identification.
Adults are small, brown, and fuzzy, with translucent patches on the wings in males. The caterpillar has stinging spines, so it is best photographed rather than handled.
9. Lesser Maple Spanworm Moth
The Lesser Maple Spanworm Moth (Itame pustularia) is a small, pale yellow geometer with brown speckles and a slightly irregular band across each wing. Its looping caterpillars feed on maple and other hardwoods, which makes shaded yards in eastern Oklahoma more likely spots than open prairie.
Moths in this group often appear in spring woodlands. For a comparison from another northern hardwood region, see types of moths in Michigan.
10. Moon Seeds Moth
The Moonseed Moth (Plusiodonta compressipalpis) belongs to the Erebidae, a family that includes the brownish moonseed moth, along with the colorful bella moth and the white Virginia moth. It is a subtle, brown moth with a pale line across each forewing. A small dark patch sits near the middle.
The name points to the host plant. Caterpillars feed on moonseed and snailseed vines, which grow in Oklahoma woodlands and thickets, so the moth tends to follow those plants rather than lawns or fields.
11. White-Lined Sphinx Moth
The White-Lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata) is the sphinx moth most often mistaken for a hummingbird. It hovers at flowers at dusk and sometimes in daytime, with a blur of wings and a long tongue that unrolls into blooms. Olive-brown forewings carry pale veins, and the hindwings flash pink.
The Moths of Oklahoma project on iNaturalist recorded seven sphinx moth species in one outing, including the White-Lined Sphinx. Petunias, phlox, and evening primrose draw them best.
Pro Tip: To see sphinx moths, plant tubular, light-colored flowers that open in the evening, then check them about 30 minutes after sunset.
12. Yellow-Vested Moth
The Yellow-Vested Moth gets its common name from the yellow patch across the thorax, which looks like a small vest. The rest of the body is a muted, mottled color, so the vest is the quickest field mark. It is a night flier that comes to lights in warm months.
Because sources list it with other small owlet-type moths, careful photos of the thorax and wing pattern help with identification. Community platforms like iNaturalist can confirm the species from clear images.
13. American Ermine Moth
The American Ermine Moth (Yponomeuta multipunctella) looks like a miniature ermine pelt, with glossy white wings covered in tiny black dots. The caterpillars live together under a silk web and eat euonymus shrubs, including the burning bush found in many Oklahoma yards.
The webs can cover a whole branch, but the plant usually leafs out again. Gardeners often notice the web in late spring and wonder whether it is a tent caterpillar nest. The webs are finer and smaller.
14. American Lappet Moth
The American Lappet Moth (Phyllodesma americana) is a stout, fuzzy, reddish-brown moth that looks like a dead leaf when it rests. Its wing edges are ruffled, or lappeted, which gives the group its name. Caterpillars feed on willow, alder, birch, and poplar, which are common near Oklahoma streams and ponds.
Adults fly in spring and early summer. They belong to the same family as the Eastern Tent Caterpillar Moth, which appears later in this list.
15. Angulose Prominent Moth
The Angulose Prominent Moth (Peridea angulosa) is a gray-brown moth with a bark-like pattern and a slightly angled wing outline. At rest, the wings fold over the body and the moth looks like a broken twig. Prominents are named for tufts of scales on the forewing’s inner edge, which stick up like small teeth.
Caterpillars eat oak leaves, which makes the Cross Timbers region a likely home. Its range reaches well north too, a pattern also seen in lists of insects in New York.
16. Barberry Geometer Moth
The Barberry Geometer Moth (Coryphista meadii) is a mid-sized geometer with gray and brown banding that resembles weathered wood. Caterpillars feed on barberry and mahonia, which means ornamental plantings in Oklahoma neighborhoods can support it.
Spring and fall flights are common for geometers, and adults often rest on walls near lights. The caterpillar is a thin, stick-like inchworm that holds still at an angle to the stem.
17. Bent-Line Carpet Moth
The Bent-Line Carpet Moth (Costaconvexa centrostrigaria) is a small geometer with a zigzag line that crosses each forewing. Carpet moths get their name from patterns that resemble old rugs. The base color runs from gray to warm brown.
Caterpillars eat low plants such as bedstraw, so lawns and weedy fields are good places to look. A second summer generation is common in warm regions. Spiders catch many of these small flyers, as the guide to spiders in Oklahoma explains.
18. Biden Borer Moth
The Biden Borer Moth (Epiblema otiosana) is a small tortricid with mottled brown and cream wings. Its name comes from its host plant, Bidens, also called beggar-ticks. The caterpillar bores into the stems of these roadside and wetland weeds.
The moth rarely gets attention because it is so small and works inside plant tissue. Pond edges, ditches, and bottomland fields offer the best chance of spotting adults. Frogs often snap up moths near these damp places, as the overview of frogs in Oklahoma shows.
19. Cecropia Silk Moth
The Cecropia Silk Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) is the largest native moth in North America, with a wingspan that can reach about six inches. Oklahoma has several giant silk moths, and the Saturniidae family has the largest wingspans among Oklahoma’s moths. Rusty-red bodies, white and red wing bands, and crescent-shaped marks make this one easy to identify.
The Gardening Dad calls it the most common in Oklahoma among the big silk moths it covers. Adults have no working mouthparts and live only a week or two. The green caterpillar, with blue and yellow knobs, feeds on maple, cherry, and wild plum.
20. Celery Leaftier Moth
The Celery Leaftier Moth (Udea rubigalis) is a small, tan-colored crambid moth that belongs to the crambid snout moths, along with the waterlily leafcutter. Its caterpillars fold and tie leaves with silk, then feed inside the shelter. Celery, beans, and spinach are favorites in vegetable beds.
In Oklahoma gardens the damage tends to show up in late summer. Folded leaves with silk threads are the sign to look for. Finches and other small birds eat many of these caterpillars, as the guide to finches in Oklahoma notes.
21. Clover Hayworm Moth
The Clover Hayworm Moth (Hypsopygia costalis) is one of the most colorful small moths in the state. Its wings are purple-pink with golden-yellow fringe and edges. When it rests, it often curls its abdomen upward, which makes the shape triangular.
The caterpillar feeds on dried plant matter, including old hay and clover. Barns, feed storage areas, and haystacks across rural Oklahoma are the best places to look. The moth also comes to porch lights.
22. Common Lytrosis Moth
The Common Lytrosis Moth (Lytrosis unitaria) is a large geometer. It is a species found in Oklahoma. The wings are brownish-gray with fine speckles and wavy lines, which makes it hard to see on bark.
The caterpillar is a twiglike inchworm that feeds on oak, hickory, and other hardwoods. Adults appear in late spring and summer around wooded neighborhoods and state parks.
23. Corn Earworm Moth
The Corn Earworm Moth (Helicoverpa zea) is a dull, tan-brown moth that causes major crop damage. Oklahoma State University Extension reports that the corn earworm can finish its life cycle in 30 days, and one female can lay between 500 and 3,000 eggs. The caterpillars vary in color from pink and yellow to green, brown, and black, so color alone is a poor way to identify them. Read the full OSU Extension scouting guide for management timing.
The moth travels far too. Utah State University Extension notes that moths can be carried on wind currents and may travel up to 300 miles in one night, which explains how fresh waves reach Oklahoma fields each season. See the USU corn earworm profile for details.
Key Insight: The caterpillar does the damage, not the adult. The moth sips nectar and lays eggs on corn silks, so scouting should focus on silks and young ears.
24. Dart Moth
Dart moths are a large group of stout, hairy-bodied night fliers in the owlet moth family. The OSU Lepidoptera collection lists Noctuidae as the owlet moths, and darts fall inside it. Their forewings are usually brown or gray with a kidney-shaped mark near the middle.
One Oklahoma example is the Master’s Dart Moth, which appears on ButterflyIdentification.org’s Oklahoma list. Dart caterpillars are often cutworms that live in soil by day and feed on seedlings at night. Gardeners often find them while digging.
25. Arcigera Flower Moth
The Arcigera Flower Moth (Schinia arcigera) is a small, compact moth that rests inside blooms. Its caterpillars eat the flowers and seeds of asters. That makes late summer and early autumn the best time to look, when sources place it in Oklahoma grasslands and forest edges.
Check native aster patches on cool mornings, when adults sit still. Bees and other pollinators share these flowers, so the guide to bees in Oklahoma can help you tell visitors apart.
26. Army Cutworm Moth
The Army Cutworm Moth (Euxoa auxiliaris) is a species found commonly in Oklahoma. It is a brown, medium-sized moth often called a miller. Large numbers sometimes invade homes in spring.
The caterpillars feed on winter wheat, alfalfa, and gardens in early spring. In summer, adults migrate to cooler mountain areas. Compare this pattern with the types of moths in Texas, where many of the same migrants pass through.
27. Dimorphic Tosale Moth
The Dimorphic Tosale Moth (Tosale oviplagalis) is a small pyralid, or snout moth, with patterned wings in orange, yellow, and brown. “Dimorphic” refers to variation in its appearance, so individuals can look different from one another. That makes it tricky to identify from one photo.
Look for it at lights in summer, near weedy fields and meadows. Because it is small, a hand lens and a clear photo of the forewing pattern help confirm it.
28. Eastern Tent Caterpillar Moth
The Eastern Tent Caterpillar Moth (Malacosoma americanum) is a reddish-brown moth with two pale stripes slanting across each forewing. The Moth Identification Oklahoma list places it among the lappet moths. The caterpillars are far more famous than the adults.
In early spring, they build silken tents in the forks of wild cherry, plum, and crabapple trees. They leave the tent to feed in daytime and return to rest. Healthy trees usually recover, but heavy infestations can strip branches.
29. Bagworm Moth
“Bagworm moth” covers a whole family, the Psychidae, rather than one species. Oklahoma also hosts smaller relatives such as the Mini Bagworm, which builds a tiny case. These differ from the Evergreen Bagworm in size and host plants.
Bagworm cases range from a fraction of an inch to a couple of inches long. Many are hard to spot on bark, fences, and walls. Males emerge and fly, while many females never leave the case.
30. Banded Woollybear Caterpillar
The Banded Woollybear Caterpillar is the larval stage of the Isabella Tiger Moth (Pyrrharctia isabella), which tops The Gardening Dad’s list of Oklahoma moths. It is a fuzzy black-and-rusty-brown caterpillar that crosses roads and sidewalks in autumn. Folklore says the width of the brown band predicts winter severity, but scientists have found the band reflects the caterpillar’s age and feeding history.
It spends winter as a frozen caterpillar and turns into an orange-yellow moth with faint spots in spring. The species also ranges across Canada’s insects, which shows how cold-hardy it is. Together, these 30 moths show how much variety Oklahoma holds for anyone willing to look at night.