Tyria jacobaeae

Distinguished from other day-flying moths by the combination of black forewings with two red patches and predominantly red hindwings. Similar burnet moths (Zygaena spp.) have red spots on a dark background but different wing shape and pattern arrangement. The cinnabar moth's specific association with ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) provides additional field identification context.

Adults are approximately 20 mm in body length with a wingspan of 32–42 mm. Forewings are predominantly black with two distinctive red patches. Hindwings are mostly red with black margins. The bright red and black pattern is aposematic, warning predators of toxicity. Larvae are black with yellow-orange transverse bands, also displaying warning coloration.

Open habitats including pastures, waste ground, coastal sand dunes, and disturbed areas where host plants occur. Distribution closely tracks that of Senecio jacobaea. Adults utilize linear landscape structures for movement between host plant patches.

Native to Europe and western and central Asia. Introduced to North America, Australia, New Zealand, and East Falkland Islands for biological control. Present in Belgium with records from Brussels-Capital Region and Flemish Region.

Adults emerge in spring and early summer. Univoltine or partially bivoltine depending on latitude, with overwintering as pupae in soil or leaf litter.

Larvae are specialized feeders on Senecio jacobaea (ragwort/tansy ragwort). Senecio vulgaris (groundsel) and Jacobaea aquatica are acceptable alternative hosts. Senecio inaequidens is not suitable—larvae fail to survive to pupation. Senecio adonidifolius has been recorded as a newly documented host. Adults feed on nectar.

• Senecio jacobaea - primary larval host plantPreferred host; source of sequestered pyrrolizidine alkaloids
• Senecio vulgaris - acceptable larval hostHigher nitrogen content than S. jacobaea; supports larval development
• Jacobaea aquatica - acceptable larval hostSuitable alternative host with equivalent larval performance
• Tussilago farfara - marginal hostAdults avoid for oviposition; larvae develop poorly, resulting in smaller pupae
• Senecio inaequidens - unsuitable hostInvasive species; females retain eggs rather than oviposit; no larvae survive to pupation
• Senecio adonidifolius - recorded hostNewly documented host association

Overwinters as pupae in soil or leaf litter. Adults emerge in spring and early summer. Females lay eggs in batches on the underside of host plant leaves. Larvae progress through five instars, feeding on leaves and flowers. Pupation occurs in soil or debris. Generation time varies with latitude; univoltine in cooler regions, partially bivoltine in warmer areas.

Adults are day-flying, unusual for a moth. Larvae exhibit a dropping response when disturbed—correlated with dispersal tendency and usable as an indirect measure of larval dispersal in field populations. Adult movement is non-random and influenced by habitat heterogeneity; most individuals remain within 100 m of release points, with maximum recorded dispersal of 400 m. Males show initially higher mobility than females, with movement parameters varying by sex and time. Adults aggregate at habitat margins and show directional movement bias related to forest corridors.

Specialist herbivore and biological control agent for invasive ragwort (Senecio jacobaea). Can significantly reduce host plant populations through larval feeding damage. Contributes to pollination as a day-flying nectar feeder. Serves as a model organism for studying chemical ecology, multitrophic interactions, and population dynamics of specialist herbivores. Host to parasitoids including Apanteles popularis.

Widely used as a biological control agent for ragwort, a toxic weed threatening livestock. Successfully established in New Zealand since 1926, with re-releases in the 1980s, where it works in combination with the ragwort flea beetle and ragwort plume moth. Reduces reliance on chemical herbicides in pasture management. Valued in ecological research for studies of chemical defense, host race formation, and plant-insect coevolution.

• Zygaena spp. (burnet moths)Similar day-flying habit and aposematic red-black coloration; distinguished by different wing pattern arrangement, more slender body, and association with Fabaceae rather than Asteraceae
• Deilephila elpenor (elephant hawkmoth)Another brightly colored day-flying moth; distinguished by pink-green coloration, larger size, and hawkmoth body form with more pointed wings

• biological control
• aposematic coloration
• chemical defense
• pyrrolizidine alkaloid sequestration
• day-flying moth
• specialist herbivore

• BugGuide
• GBIF taxonomy match
• iNaturalist taxon
• NCBI Taxonomy
• Catalogue of Life
• Meet six unsung heroes of the pollination world - Buglife Blog - Buglife
• Senecio jacobaeae Archives - Entomology Today
• New Zealand Farmers use Moths and Beetles to Fight Weeds
• Local Dispersal by the Cinnabar Moth Tyria Jacobaeae
• Seasonal Variation in Parasitoid Attack of Tyria Jacobaeae By Apanteles Popularis
• The Ecology of the Cinnabar Moth, Tyria jacobaeae L. (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae)
• The population ecology of the Cinnabar Moth, Tyria jacobaeae L. (Lepidoptera, Arctiidae)
• Increase in respiratory rate during feeding in larvae of the cinnabar moth Tyria jacobaeae
• Evidence for two genetically and chemically defined host races of Tyria jacobaeae (Arctiidae, Lepidoptera)
• Chemical ecology of the cinnabar moth (Tyria jacobaeae) on a newly recorded host Senecio adonidifolius
• THE DISTRIBUTION OF SENECIO JACOBAEA L. AND TYRIA JACOBAEAE L. IN RELATION TO SOIL PROPERTIES
• Distribution of the Cinnabar moth Tyria jacobaeae L. at landscape scale: use of linear landscape structures in egg laying on larval hostplant exposures
• INDIRECT MEASURES OF LARVAL DISPERSAL IN THE CINNABAR MOTH, TYRIA JACOBAEAE (LEPIDOPTERA: ARCTIIDAE)
• Sequestration, N-Oxidation and Transformation of Plant Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids by the Arctiid Moth Tyria jacobaeae L
• Facultative defences and specialist herbivores? Cinnabar moth ( Tyria jacobaeae ) on the re growth foliage of ragwort ( Senecio jacobaea )
• Inter‐ and intra‐ species differences in plants as hosts to Tyria jacobaeae
• Performance of the native Tyria jacobaeae L. (Lepidoptera, Erebidae) on native and invasive ragwort species in Germany
• Gustatory responsiveness to pyrrolizidine alkaloids in the Senecio specialist, Tyria jacobaeae (Lepidoptera, Arctiidae)