White Moth Identification: 8 White Moths and Look-Alikes

The Wildlife Trusts count around 2,500 moth species in the UK alone, and several common ones are white. Three features separate them: the pattern of spots on the forewings, the colour of the abdomen and the wingspan.

• Virginian tiger moth (*Spilosoma virginica*), North America: white with a darker abdomen; Wikipedia calls it one of the most common moths on plantings about yards and gardens. Its caterpillar is the yellow woolly bear.
• Fall webworm moth (*Hyphantria cunea*): white, sometimes with dark spots on the forewings in the south, hairy, with bright yellow or orange patches on the front legs; wingspan about 30-42 mm. Native from Canada to Mexico and now in Europe and Asia (Wikipedia).
• Giant leopard moth (*Hypercompe scribonia*): about 76 mm (3 inches), bright white with neat black blotches, some solid and some hollow rings; abdomen dark blue with orange marks on top. Southern Ontario and the eastern and southern US to Colombia (Wikipedia).
• Salt marsh moth (*Estigmene acrea*): 4.5-6.8 cm, white forewings with a variable pattern of black spots (sometimes none), yellow-orange abdomen with black spots; males have yellow-orange hindwings (Wikipedia).
• White ermine (*Spilosoma lubricipeda*), Europe and temperate Asia: 34-48 mm, milky white, from almost spotless to heavily black-spotted, with an orange abdomen with black dots; flies May to September (Wikipedia).
• Browntail moth (*Euproctis chrysorrhoea*): 36-42 mm, white wings and a hairy white body with a brown tuft at the tip of the abdomen (Wikipedia). Native to Europe; in North America on the coast of Maine and parts of Cape Cod. It flies in July and August and comes to lights (Maine Forest Service).
• White plume moth (*Pterophorus pentadactyla*), Europe: 26-34 mm, pure white, each wing split into feather-like plumes; at rest it rolls the wings into narrow rods and forms a T shape (Wikipedia).
• Female bagworm: a yellowish-white, wingless, legless female that never leaves her bag (Wikipedia, evergreen bagworm), so you will see the bag rather than the moth.

• Whiteflies: tiny insects with yellowish bodies and four whitish wings, on the undersides of leaves, that fly up when the plant is disturbed. The white is a mealy wax; they are related to aphids, scales and mealybugs, not moths (UC IPM).
• Cabbage white butterflies (*Pieris rapae*): 32-47 mm, creamy white with black wing tips; females have two black spots on each forewing. They fly by day, while most white moths fly at night (Wikipedia).
• White monarchs: a white colour form of the monarch butterfly occurs, commonly on Oahu, Hawaii, and rarely elsewhere (Wikipedia).

For more on day-flying versus night-flying, see moth identification and butterfly identification.

No. Several white species are common: Wikipedia calls the Virginian tiger moth one of the most common moths on plantings about yards and gardens, the fall webworm now occurs across much of North America, Europe and Asia, and the white ermine flies from May to September across temperate Europe and Asia. What is rare is a white form of a normally coloured insect, such as the white monarch, which Wikipedia says is common only on Oahu.

The adult moths on this page do not sting, and the hazard to people is mainly one species' caterpillars. The Maine Forest Service says browntail moth caterpillars, pupal cocoons and shed skins carry microscopic toxic hairs that can cause a rash like poison ivy and/or trouble breathing, while the brown hairs on the adult's abdomen are not toxic and do not cause a rash. Do not handle hairy caterpillars or cocoons in browntail areas; if a rash spreads or breathing is affected, see a doctor or call poison control.

Other white moths matter to plants rather than people: fall webworm caterpillars build webs at branch tips (Wikipedia), and whiteflies feed on leaf undersides (UC IPM). Wikipedia notes the white ermine is poisonous to birds, which is why they avoid it.

Biologically, it usually means a white species is in its flight season and was drawn to a light. The browntail moth, for example, flies in July and August and is most active at lights between 10 pm and midnight (Maine Forest Service); the white ermine flies May to September (Wikipedia). There is no scientific meaning beyond that. If you see many, check the nearby trees and shrubs for webs or caterpillars, which tell you which species is breeding there.

White moths are easy to overexpose. Turn the flash off, tap the moth on the screen to set exposure, and photograph it from above with the wings flat, then from the side to show the abdomen colour and legs. Include the date and region. The spot pattern and abdomen colour are what to check InsectLens's answer against.

Research and drafting for this page used AI assistance. Every figure, date and quotation was then checked line by line against the sources listed at the bottom of the page, each of which was opened while writing. Nothing here is a diagnosis or a treatment plan; if a bite, sting or rash worries you, or anyone has trouble breathing or swelling of the face or throat, get medical care straight away.