We studied the efficiency and effects of the multiple sensory cues of tiger moths on echolocating bats. We used the northern long-eared bat, Myotis septentrionalis, a purported moth specialist that takes surface-bound prey (gleaning) and airborne prey (aerial hawking), and the dogbane tiger moth, Cycnia tenera, an eared species unpalatable to bats that possesses conspicuous colouration and soun...

The walking paths of male cockroaches, Periplaneta americana, tracking point-source plumes of female pheromone often appear similar in structure to those observed from flying male moths. Flying moths use visual-flow-field feedback of their movements to control steering and speed over the ground and to detect the wind speed and direction while tracking plumes of odors. Walking insects are also k...

Most visual systems are more sensitive to luminance than to colour signals. Animals resolve finer spatial detail and temporal changes through achromatic signals than through chromatic ones. Probably, this explains that detection of small, distant, or moving objects is typically mediated through achromatic signals. Macroglossum stellatarum are fast flying nectarivorous hawkmoths that inspect flo...

Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) have been suggested for the environmental monitoring of genetically modified (GM) crops due to their suitability as ecological indicators, and because of the possible adverse impact of the cultivation of current transgenic crops. The German Association of Engineers (VDI) has developed guidelines for the standardized monitoring of Lepidoptera describing the us...

The efficacy of mating disruption by using Isomate-M 100 pheromone dispensers and two formulations of microencapsulated sprayable pheromone for management of oriental fruit moth, Grapholita molesta (Busck), was compared with conventional insecticides in large plot studies in Henderson County, North Carolina, in 2000 and 2001. In addition, experiments were conducted in small and large plots to t...

A life-history in which an organism depends on ants is called myrmecophily. Among Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), many species of lycaenid butterflies are known to show myrmecophily at the larval stage. Descriptions of myrmecophily among moth species, however, are very few and fragmentary. Here, we report the ant-associated behaviour of the tiny Japanese arctiid moth, Nudina artaxidia. Fie...

L. M. Cook1, B. S. Grant2, I. J. Saccheri3 and J. Mallet4,5,* Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK Department of Biology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187, USA Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZB, UK Genetics Evolution and Environment, UCL, 4 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HE, UK Department of Organismic and Evo...

References 1. Wystrach, A., and Graham, P. (2012). What can we learn from studies of insect navigation? Anim. Behav. 84, 13–20. 2. Collett, M., Chittka, L., and Collett, T.S. (2013). Spatial memory in insect navigation. Curr. Biol. 23, R789–R800. 3. Kohler, M., and Wehner, R. (2005). Idiosyncratic route-based memories in desert ants, Melophorus bagoti: How do they interact with path-integration...

Habitat fragmentation may strongly affect species density, species interactions, and the rate of ecosystem processes. It is therefore important to understand the observed variability among species responses to fragmentation and the underlying mechanisms. In this study, we compare density-area relationships (DARs) for 344 lepidopteran species belonging to 22 families (butterflies and moths). Thi...