Cacao moth
Ephestia elutella (Hübner, 1796)
Status not recordedbutterflies and moths
The cacao moth (Ephestia elutella) is a species in the family Pyralidae, order Lepidoptera.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the cacao moth
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the cacao moth live?
Not recorded
Where has it been introduced?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the cacao moth as introduced in 15 countries, and flagged as invasive in 2 of them.
- Netherlandsinvasive
- Swedeninvasive
- Austria
- Bulgaria
- Denmark
- Estonia
- France
- Germany
- Ireland
- Japan
- Poland
- Russia
- Slovenia
- United Kingdom
- United States
Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).
Is the cacao moth endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the cacao moth classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumArthropoda
- classInsecta
- orderLepidoptera
- familyPyralidae
- genusEphestia
- SpeciesEphestia elutella (Hübner, 1796)
Synonyms Ephestia ablutalis, Ephestia affusella, Ephestia amarella, Ephestia angusta, Ephestia aquella, Ephestia chocolatella, Ephestia elutea, Ephestia icosiella, Ephestia infumatella, Ephestia roxburghi, Ephestia roxburghii, Ephestia roxburgii, Ephestia rufa, Ephestia semirufa, Ephestia sericarium, Ephestia uniformata, Homoeosoma affusella, Hyphantidium sericarium, Phycis elutea, Phycis rufa, Phycis semirufa, Tinea aquella, Tinea elutella
Other names and names in other languages (29)
- Tobacco mothEnglish
- Warehouse mothEnglish
- zavíječ skladištníCzech
- Gwyfyn CocoWelsh
- HømølDanish
- KakaomotteGerman
- tallikoisaFinnish
- Phycide du cacaoFrench
- készletmolyHungarian
- チャマダラメイガJapanese
- Tabakinis siaurasparnis ugniukasLithuanian
- kakaosmalmottNorwegian Bokmål
- CacaomotDutch
- Mklik próchniczekPolish
- Зерновая огнёвкаRussian
- vijačka čokoládováSlovak
- hömottSwedish
- Üzüm güvesiTurkish
- Gwyfynod CocoWelsh
- Almindeligt kakaomølDanish
- HøhalvmølDanish
- HøpyralideDanish
- KakaomølDanish
- SpeichermotteGerman
- Teigne du cacaoFrench
- ChocolademotDutch
- De cacaomotDutch
- kakaomottSwedish
- Tütün GüvesiTurkish
Relatives of the cacao moth
Other species in the same genus Ephestia.
CompareCacao moth vs Mediterranean flour mothCacao moth vs Ephestia abnormalellaCacao moth vs Ephestia bengasiellaCacao moth vs Ephestia columbiella
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
Is the cacao moth an invasive species?
In some places. The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species flags the cacao moth as invasive in 2 countries: Netherlands and Sweden. It lists it as introduced in 15 in all.
What kind of animal is the cacao moth?
The cacao moth (Ephestia elutella) belongs to the family Pyralidae in the order Lepidoptera.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AnimalTraits: a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size · CC0 1.0 · 1.0.7
Herberstein, M.E., McLean, D.J., Lowe, E. et al. (2022) AnimalTraits: a curated animal trait database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size. Scientific Data 9: 265. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01364-9. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6468938 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Environment Agency freshwater fish surveys (National Fish Populations Database) · OGL v3.0 · 2026-11-14
Environment Agency. Freshwater fish surveys (NFPD). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Environment Agency copyright and/or database right. https://environment.data.gov.uk/ecology/explorer/ - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI): interpreted data products · CC0 1.0 · 0.11
Poelen, J.H., Simons, J.D. & Mungall, C.J. (2014) Global Biotic Interactions: an open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics 24: 148–159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2014.08.005. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22691479, with each record's original reference. - Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (GRIIS) · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-11-13
Pagad, S., Genovesi, P., Carnevali, L., Schigel, D. & McGeoch, M.A. (2018) Introducing the Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species. Scientific Data 5: 170202. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.202. Country checklists published through GBIF by the IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. - LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Shirey, V., Larsen, E., Doherty, A. et al. (2022) LepTraits 1.0: a globally comprehensive dataset of butterfly traits. Scientific Data 9: 382. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01473-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19874602.v1 - Northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits (raw datasets) · CC BY 4.0 · 2024-12-17
Logghe, G., Batsleer, F., Maes, D. et al. (2025) An in-depth dataset of northwestern European arthropod life histories and ecological traits. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e146785. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.13.e146785. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13379714 - Palmer Archipelago penguin measurements (Palmer Station LTER) · CC0 1.0 · 0.1.0
Gorman, K.B., Williams, T.D. & Fraser, W.R. (2014) Ecological sexual dimorphism and environmental variability within a community of Antarctic penguins (genus Pygoscelis). PLoS ONE 9(3): e90081. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090081. Data: Palmer Station Antarctica LTER, via Horst, A.M., Hill, A.P. & Gorman, K.B. (2020) palmerpenguins. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3960218 - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits · CC BY 4.0 · 1.0-2022-06-17
Mull, C.G., Pacoureau, N., Pardo, S.A. et al. (2022) Sharkipedia: a curated open access database of shark and ray life history traits and abundance time-series. Scientific Data 9: 559. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01655-1. Data: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6656525 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b - TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe · CC BY 4.0 · 2.0
Chauvier, Y., Adde, A., Bergamini, A. et al. (2025) TraitCH: a multi-taxa functional trait dataset for Switzerland and Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15063844 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision). - Sex-specific median life expectancies from ex situ populations for 330 animal species · CC BY 4.0 · 2018-07
Che-Castaldo, J.P., Byrne, A., Perišin, K. & Faust, L.J. (2019) Sex-specific median life expectancies from ex situ populations for 330 animal species. Scientific Data 6: 190019. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2019.19. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.7539968.v1
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Cacao moth (Ephestia elutella). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/cacao-moth
“Cacao moth (Ephestia elutella).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/cacao-moth.
@misc{cacao_moth_2026,
title = {Cacao moth (Ephestia elutella)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/cacao-moth},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}