Yucca Moth
FamilyProdoxidae
Scientific NameTegeticula yuccasella
RangeNorth America
HabitatDeserts, prairies
About the Yucca Moth
A small white moth locked in a famous partnership with yucca plants. Females gather pollen with special tentacles near their mouths and deliberately pack it onto the yucca flower, then lay eggs in the flower ovary. Their caterpillars eat some of the seeds, but enough survive. Neither yucca nor moth can reproduce without the other.