Green Oak Tortrix vs Barn Swallow Bug

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Green Oak Tortrix Barn Swallow Bug
Scientific Name Tortrix viridana Oeciacus vicarius
Order Lepidoptera Hemiptera
Family Tortricidae Cimicidae
Size 20-24 mm wingspan 3-4 mm
Habitat Woodlands Woodlands
Diet Herbivores Blood Feeders
Regions Europe, Western Asia, North Africa North America
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Green Oak Tortrix

A small bright green moth with pale hindwings that is the most important oak defoliator in Europe. Outbreak years can turn whole oak canopies brown by June.

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Did You Know?

Defoliation by this moth has shaped oak woodland ecology for thousands of years.

Barn Swallow Bug

A cimicid ectoparasite of cliff swallows and barn swallows in North America. It can bite humans in buildings after swallow nests are abandoned.

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Did You Know?

Swallow colonies may abandon heavily infested nesting sites and relocate to parasite-free locations.