Venomoth is a lepidopteraninsectPokémon whose body is varying shades of purple. Its head and thorax are both light purple, and it has bulbous, round, light blue eyes, a small mandible, and a three-point crest on its head. Tucked close to its thorax are three pairs of tiny, whitish legs. Its abdomen is paler with several black, zigzagging stripes encircling it. It has two pairs of pale purple moth-like wings with thin black venation. Its official artwork and variousTCGcards depict the wings as translucent.
Venomoth's wings are covered in dust-like scales that vary in color depending on their toxic capability. Dark scales are poisonous, while lighter scales can cause paralysis. These scales are released when Venomoth flutters its wings and leak out poison once they make contact with the skin. Venomoth lives in dense temperate forests with thick undergrowth and little light. As a nocturnal Pokémon, Venomoth comes out at night to hunt for its favorite prey. It prefers to feed on insects that gather around light sources, and Venomoth is attracted to bright lights itself. As stated in Pokémon Adventures, Venomoth has a short lifespan.
Venomoth debuted in The Secret of Kangaskhan, where Blue defeated a wild one but didn't catch it because he already had one. This was the first Pokémon to be shown with a Pokédex entry.
The dust-like scales covering its wings are color coded to indicate the kinds of poison it has. It has a short life span, and appears to be the evolved form of a Venonat.
Venomoth is nocturnal - it is a Pokémon that only becomes active at night. Its favorite prey are small insects that gather around streetlights, attracted by the light in the darkness.
Venomoth are nocturnal — they only are active at night. Their favorite prey are insects that gather around streetlights, attracted by the light in the darkness.
Venomoth is nocturnal—it is a Pokémon that only becomes active at night. Its favorite prey are small insects that gather around streetlights, attracted by the light in the darkness.
Venomoth shares its category name with Dustox. They are both known as the Poison Moth Pokémon.
In early official art, Venomoth had yellow spots on the back of its wings. This was removed when later official artwork was released.
In Ruby and Sapphire, Venomoth's sprite color set contains 2 shades of yellow that go unused.
Venomoth's Crystal sprite is different from its Gold and Silver sprite, making it one of the few Pokémon to have three different sprites in Generation II.
Venomoth and its pre-evolved form are the Pokémon that went the longest without appearing in a regional Pokédex, excluding their appearances in remakes: prior to the release of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, their last appearance in a regional Pokédex was in Crystal, almost 22 years earlier.
Origin
Venomoth seems to be based on swallowtail moths, many of which are toxic. Its fangs could be a reference to vampire moths.