What is the typical appearance of the female Winter Moth compared to the male?
Answer
The female is almost entirely wingless, appearing as a small, dark, spider-like creature.
The adult Winter Moths exhibit pronounced sexual dimorphism, meaning the sexes look distinctly different. The male possesses functional light brown or greyish-brown wings and has a wingspan between 25 and 30 millimeters. In sharp contrast, the female is largely immobile due to being nearly wingless, possessing only very small, functionless wing remnants. This lack of flight ability results in the female being described as resembling a small, dark, spider-like creature, forcing males to locate them on surfaces like tree trunks or low vegetation for mating to occur.
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