Researchers found that Luna moth tails primarily serve to misdirect bat attacks, with no additional mating advantages or increased visibility to bird predators. In a pair of complementary studies, researchers took a close look at Luna moth (Actias luna) tails through the eyes of birds and female
Luna moths have neither mouths to produce sound nor ears to hear it, but they do have sensitive eyes and powerful scent-detecting antennae. When female Luna moths are ready to mate, they perch in one place and emit a pheromone, a single molecule of which is enough to trigger a male antenna. The males of closely related Indian moon moths can find females from more than six miles away by following the pheromone plume to its source.
Rubin put this idea to the test, setting up mating experiments in which a female Luna moth was enclosed in a flight box with two males: one with normal hind wings, and one with its tails removed. Luna moths are mostly inactive during the day, reducing their chances of being nabbed midair. If they don’t do a good enough job concealing themselves, however, they run the risk of not surviving to nightfall.
The results conclusively indicate that the tails had no effect on the birds’ ability to locate the fake moths. This might seem odd to us, Rubin said, because we’re such visually oriented animals. But there’s evidence that suggests birds might rely on search images when trying to distinguish food items from patterns in the background.
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