the.com/moths
butterflies' goth cousins who navigate by moon and got tricked by your porch light
means Moths are the mostly nocturnal, dull-winged insects of the order Lepidoptera, the same group as butterflies, drawn helplessly to artificial lights and fond of eating wool sweaters.
from "Moth" comes from Old English "moþþe," a word with close kin across the Germanic family — Dutch "mot," German "Motte" — all naming the same fluttering pest. For most of its life the word meant chiefly the clothes-eating, fabric-gnawing larva; the broader sense covering the whole winged tribe came later. The deeper roots are murky, but it may be tied to an old word for "maggot" or "midge," fitting for a creature first known by the holes it left behind.
- compass hack
- They fly at constant angle to distant light sources
- mouthless adults
- Some species never eat, living only to mate
- ear evolution
- Many grew ears just to dodge hunting bats
- silk source
- Domestic silkworm moths gave us silk for millennia
- size range
- Atlas moths span nearly a foot wide
peppered moth — manchester, england 1848: shifted from light to dark coloration during industrial revolution, classic evolution example
atlas moth — southeast asia: largest moth by wing area, wingspan up to 27 cm, wingspan-to-body ratio record holder
luna moth — north america: distinctive pale green wings with eyespots, no functional mouth, lives only 7 days as adult
death's-head hawkmoth — africa and middle east: skull marking on thorax, only moth that squeaks, featured in silence of the lambs