To the layman, food moths and clothes moths look pretty similar. We help identify moths and explain how clothes moths differ from food moths.
A larvae in muesli, small holes in your new favorite sweater and then a moth flutters out of the pantry - moths in the house are an unpleasant surprise. The inconspicuous animals develop into annoying pests that can cause considerable damage. In order to take the right countermeasures and thus get rid of the uninvited visitors quickly, you have to know whether the pest is a clothes moth or a food moth. For a layman, the differences between clothes moths and food moths are often not clear, so confusion often occurs. In this article you will learn the most important differences between clothes moths and food moths so that you can identify the right moth without a doubt and successfully combat it.
How to recognize food moths
The generic term "food moth" includes various species of moths such as the dried fruit moth (Plodia interpunctella), the flour moth (Ephestia kuehniella) and the Storage moth (Ephestia elutella) summarized. The moths reach a body size of up to 25 millimeters and are colored differently depending on the species with irregular brown or black patterns. However, damage in the household is not caused by the adult animals, but by their larvae. The yellowish-white colored larvae of the food moth are 1.1 to 1.7 cm in size and look very much like maggots. The larvae are storage pests that infest different foods such as grain, flour, nuts, chocolate or tea and can contaminate them with their faeces and webs. Food moths are often brought into the household unnoticed by infested food - the nimble moths feel particularly at home in the kitchen.
Hint: The drawing of the wingsof pest moths is not clearly defined. It can vary quite a bit depending on the season, diet, lifestyle and subspecies. Therefore, specific pheromone traps or the observation of the preferred food source always provide the most decisive clue.
Pheromone traps are a simple and reliable tool for early detection of a moth infestation. Our Plantura food moth traps contain pheromones, for example, which only attract male food moths. Since the moths stick to the glued boards, they can also be viewed and identified at leisure. Using our Plantura food moth traps is very easy. They are just stuck in affected cupboards or drawers and then attract the male moths over a period of about six weeks. However, one thing should be noted when using them: moth traps are only a means of identification and are not sufficient to control the moths. However, due to the early detection of infestation, they offer the best conditions for timely control.
Tip: The storage moth is similar to the clothes moth (Tineola bisselliella), both have bright golden yellow shiny wings with fringes. The only way to tell the difference is by using pheromone traps - or by finding the moth larvae either in the closet or in the pantry.
How to recognize clothes moths
Clothes moths (Tineola bisselliella) have a body size of about 4 to 9 mm as moths. Their front wings are straw yellow and have a silvery sheen. In contrast to other species of moth, the wings of the clothes moth have no spots or markings - an important distinguishing feature! As with the food moth, the actual damage is caused by the voracious larvae. Adult clothes moths do not eat and therefore do no harm. The larvae, which have a light, thread-like body with a dark head, feed on substances containing keratin such as wool, fur, silk, feathers, but natural insulating materials are also on their menu. The material damage can be enormous in the event of an infestation and is easily recognizable by small holes in the affected piece. Clothes moths love dark wardrobes, but the little moths also feel at home in carpets - this is where their larvae find their homeoptimal living conditions.
Female clothes moths secrete pheromones to attract males to mate. There are also special pheromone traps that only work on clothes moths. The use of our Plantura clothes moth traps is also very simple. The traps can either be set up, hung or even attached to the underside of cupboards or shelves with adhesive dots. However, as with traps for food moths, not all males are caught and the traps are therefore not sufficient for control, but rather for infestation detection and monitoring.
Tip: Fur moths are also clothes moths. They have variable, sometimes grey-black wing markings and should not be confused with the similar-looking flour moths.
Differences between clothes moths and food moths
Clothes moths and food moths differ mainly in their appearance: In contrast to food moths, clothes moths do not have dark patterns or spots, but are straw-yellow in color with a silvery shimmer. But they both have one thing in common: Both the clothes moths and the food moths are pests and therefore undesirable in the house. However, the larvae of the food moth infest food and are therefore stored product pests, whereas the larvae of the clothes moth feed on fabrics and textiles containing keratin and are considered material pests.
Because of their special eating habits, there is another distinguishing criterion: the whereabouts. You will not find a food moth in a closet, as there is no food for the larvae there, and clothes moths rarely stray into the kitchen either. If you take note of the basic characteristics of the appearance and occurrence of the nimble moths, you too can easily distinguish between clothes moths and food moths.
Summary - This is how the moths differ:
| Food Moths | Clothes Moths |
|---|---|
| Mostly dark patterned wings (dried fruit moth), rarely shiny grey-black or yellow (flour moth, storage moth) | Mostly solid straw yellow (clothes moth), more rarely straw yellow with dark markings or darker grey-black (fur moth) |
| Infest and contaminate various foods | Leave damage to textiles and natural insulating materials |
| Occur mainly in the warm summer months | Can occur in the house or apartment all year round |
| Develop optimally at around 30 °C | Develop optimally at around 24 °C; however, a (slower) development is already possible from 15 °C |
| Recognizable by webs or larvae in food | Recognizable by webs and larvae in the wardrobe or holes in clothing |
Once the moths have been identified, it's time to declare war on the little pests. However, the use of chemical repellents against moths in the closet and especially in the kitchen is of course unpleasant and not harmless. Our Plantura parasitic wasps against clothes moths and food moths, on the other hand, are a safe and sustainable measure against the pests effective elimination.
You get 2000 of the beneficial insects in host eggs on small cards, which you simply have to place in the affected areas. A card covers an area of about one square meter or a closed room, for example a cupboard compartment. The number of cards you need therefore depends on the size of the area concerned - for a normal-sized kitchen, for example, we recommend four cards. To ensure successful and definitive moth control, it is important to repeat this process every two weeks. So that you can always lay out fresh cards at the right time, you will receive a delivery of our Plantura parasitic wasps against food moths and clothes moths by post every 14 days.
Tip: Because of the different development times, four repetitions are necessary for food moths and six for clothes moths.
By the way, after the work is done, the little beneficial insects die within a few days and, due to their tiny shape, practically crumble into dust. It is therefore sufficient to wipe the affected shelves with a damp cloth and wash the clothes once.
Tip: It is helpful to attach moth traps while you are fighting. shedo not contribute significantly to combating them, but they can be used to monitor the moth population and indicate when the cupboard and kitchen are moth-free again.
In our special article on combating food moths and combating clothes moths, we will tell you how best to prevent food moths and clothes moths and not let them become a problem in the first place.