Protection of bats – Motte has stealth technology – Süddeutsche.de

Two wing extensions irritate attacking bats and give the Lunar Moth some protection

(Photo: US Department of Agriculture )

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moon moths have two pterygoid processes, which act as a kind of stealth technology for the insects. The slender growths of butterflies irritate the echolocation-hunting bats.

Often it increases the chances of survival to fly under the radar of a robber round. Actias luna – an American Nachtfalterart -. Also has a special technique to escape the Sight of the Big Brown Bat

From the rear wings of butterflies grow two slender, long processes that seem echolocation-hunting Bats irritate. The report biologists to Jesse Barber of Boise State University in the journal PNAS (online). Actias luna belongs to the family Saturniidae and is referred to in North America, where the animals are native, as Lunar Moth.

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The animals are active at night and being chased by bats. Diurnal butterflies protect themselves, for example, with dissuasive stains on their wings against predators. In the darkness of this strategy can not work of course, but the moon moths have an acoustic equivalent.

The researchers tied many moon moth on a leash firmly. Half of the animals they had the slender wing extensions removed and now they observed with high-speed cameras and ultrasonic microphones, the impact on the serendipity Big Brown had bats. Moon moths with the stealth wing design had a nearly 50 percent greater chance to escape the predators. Apparently, consider this the focus of the echolocation of bats on the rear of the wing, thus reducing the hunting success of the robbers.