Wednesday 14 June 2017

The cost of long-horned moths long antennae?


As I walked past the university woodland area, in the usual clearing, a swarm of 7-8 Yellow-barred Long-horn moths, Nemophora degeerella in their bobbing flight. A few other males sat on the leaves facing the swarm. I searched for females to no avail, but something caught my eye, a male that had been caught in a spider web by his antennae (top shot), still alive, but kicking hopelessly. I have covered these moths in previous posts, the extraordinary antennae of their names only applies to males: the females have a much shorter antennae. This sexual dimorphism suggests that the male's antennae have evolved in response to sexual selection, possibly in relation to pheromone detection by males.
Two males rest on leaves (1/06/2017).

The evolution of exaggerated sexually-selected traits often is accompanied by costs and in the case of these moths, increased predation risk is a likely prize the males are paying for their oversized antennae.
A large swarm of long horned moths on 1/06/17.

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