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Australian Wildlife

  Greater Wax Moth (Galleria mellonella)





Greater Wax Moth | Galleria mellonella photo
Greater Wax Moth

Image by Donald Hobern - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







GREATER WAX MOTH FACTS

Identification
The Greater Wax Moth or Honeycomb Moth is a pest species in beehives. The adult moth is generally brown with pattern of light brown and darker brown markings. The Caterpillars are a pale yellow brown with a brown head. The Caterpillars make white cocoons covering the orange pupa.

Other Names
Honeycomb Moth

Size
wing span about 30mm

Food
Greater Wax Moth caterpillars tunnel through bee honeycombs, feeding on pollen, wax and honey. They prefer abandoned hives, or hives with weakened colony.

Breeding
The female moth can lay over 1000 eggs, usually in batches of about 100. The oval eggs are pale yellow brown and about 0.5 mm across.



Classification
Class:Insecta
Order:Lepidoptera
Family:Pyralidae
Genus:Galleria
Species:mellonella
Common Name:Greater Wax Moth