Moths

By Iain MacLeod on Friday, August 8, 2003.

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Ever wonder why moths fly into the light? Iain answers this question and produces many other moth facts.

August 8, 2003: Moths
I'm Iain MacLeod from the Audubon Society of New Hampshire, and this is Something WildŠ

Butterfly-watching is getting increasingly popular, and there are many new field guides out there to help you attract and identify them. But lately, I've gotten interested in moths.

Yes, moths. They're fascinating! First of all, there are so many of them. For example, in New Hampshire we have 80 butterflies and 1800 moths. So far, that is. Scientists are pretty sure there are still moths out there that haven't yet been identified.

Moths can be beautiful, too, as anyone who has seen a light-green luna moth would agree. There are also clearwing moths, which look like hummingbirds, and cecropia moths, which are big and have gorgeous rust patterns on them.

Of course, you could argue, there are also clothes moths and grain moths. True. But most moths don't bother people at all, and, in fact, do a lot of good. Moths pollinate flowers, help break down leaf litter, and their caterpillars provide us with one of the world's best fabrics: silk.

One question that always comes up is why moths are attracted to light. No one knows for sure, but one theory has to do with pheromones, the chemicals that insects release to communicate with each other. The theory goes that pheromones emit some infrared radiation, and our light sources mimic that, which attracts the moths. Another theory goes that some nighttime insects are attracted to lit areas for mating.

But why do moths fly at night in the first place? In fact, there are many that do fly during the day, but the majority are night-fliers. Again, there is only a theory for this: it is thought that moths have adapted to fly at night because birds don't. Birds eat insects of all types, so it behooves insects to avoid them.

Do you know how to tell a butterfly from a moth? Look at their antennae. The tip of a butterfly antenna has a club, or knob, at the end of it, and moths' are tapered to the tip with no club.

If you have an insect trivia or any other natural history question that you would like answered on Something Wild, email us at somethingwild@ nhpr.org.

Something Wild is a joint production of the Audubon Society of New Hampshire, New Hampshire Public Radio, and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. For Something Wild, I'm Iain MacLeod.