Virtually all proboscis moths really do not. But this does not mean that the mole is not a butterfly. But why moths do not have a trunk - the question is really interesting, and can be answered by evolutionary biologists who are well versed in the features of the biology and life activity of these insects.
Proboscis - a body missing as unnecessary
The proboscis is needed by butterflies in order to properly feed on the nectar of flowers - it is with the help of this organ that the insect can reach the deeply hidden aromatic nectaries of plants. The overwhelming majority of butterflies eat just such food.
It is interesting
Despite the fact that butterflies are adapted to nectar with flowers, there are among them species whose food preferences do not at all correspond to the “image” of these insects. For example, butterflies are known to feed on animal excrement and animal carcasses (by the way, it is among them that the largest and most beautiful butterflies of the world are present), and even vampire butterflies.They can attack a person, piercing their skin with a proboscis and sucking a few drops of blood.
But among the total diversity of butterflies, 2000 species of moles stand apart: they do not feed at all in adulthood. They simply do not need a proboscis or any other food-eating organs. This is the answer to the question why there is no proboscis in the moth.
In addition to the oral apparatus, many moles in the adult state are absent and the digestive organs (more precisely, they are underdeveloped). The task of adult moths is to mate and lay eggs, and therefore they live only at the expense of the nutrients that they accumulate even in the larval stage.
It is a moth caterpillar - the same pest that neatly cuts off fur on fur coats in the closet, gnaws holes on sweaters and furniture upholstery, spoils dry cereals and other food in kitchens and in closets. The caterpillar has a powerful gnawing apparatus, before which even kuruz groats and semi-synthetic fabrics cannot resist.
On a note
Contrary to popular belief, the mole does not destroy things from synthetic fabric. The larva can eat tissues containing part of synthetics, and part - of natural materials, but they grow on such a diet more slowly than those that eat natural wool or fur.
In some species, the gnawing apparatus remains in the adult stage. However, this does not mean that the butterflies of these species can damage clothes - they are just less evolutionarily mature and have not completely lost their food organs.
The butterfly moth, as a rule, lives for a very short time - from several days to several weeks. At the same time, females try to move as little as possible, and males fly only at night. This ensures a certain safety of these insects, relatively poorly flying and not capable of scaring off predators. But insects that are dangerous to humans are not among the moles.
Does the mole bite?
Definitely we can say that the mole does not bite. Even u moth larvae with their powerful gnawing mandibles, it will not be possible to bite a person: their jaws are too small to bite through our skin. And it is not necessary to pray at any stage of development - the mol will not receive anything from a person, and she cannot protect herself with her jaws.
The myth that the mole bites appeared in those houses where butterflies are constantly swarming under the ceiling, and mosquitoes are sitting in the corners. Butterflies are striking, and mosquitoes are bitten, and an apartment inhabitant who is unstressed in biology ties this picture together: those whom he sees bite him.It creates the wrong impression that it is the butterflies that bite, although they have sucking proboscis and are completely absent.
On a note
The world-famous vampire butterflies do not belong to moles. Those blood-sucking butterflies found in Siberia belong to the scoop family, in the same family there are tropical species that can pierce even the thick buffalo skin with their proboscis.
A moth is like a real butterfly
For the rest, the mole is a typical butterfly, with a wing-like device, visual and chemical communication methods, and a seasonal biorhythm peculiar to butterflies.
The absence of proboscis in moths can be primary and secondary:
- in the primary toothed moths, the gnawing apparatus of adult butterflies inherited them from their ancestors
- moth moths of the second type had a mouth apparatus in the past, but lost it, ceasing to eat in the adult stage. All belong to the second type domestic pests.
The pronounced difference between the caterpillar and the butterfly is a very wise course of nature and evolution. At different stages of development, individuals of the same species practically do not meet with each other and do not create food competition for one another.This increases the chances of survival of the species.
Moths living in the wild have a clear chronological development cycle: the caterpillar develops on organic debris, in mammals and birds nests, feeding on feathers and wool, in the ears of cereals during the warm period of the year. At the end of summer or autumn, the caterpillars pupate and then butterflies appear from the pupae, laying eggs. It is eggs that hibernate, and in spring, with the advent of food, larvae appear from them.
Those members of the family who live in the tropics or in human houses do not differ in similar seasonality. In them, the process of reproduction and development proceeds without being tied to the season with the speed that the feed base allows.
Feedback:
“Near the house I never paid attention to such a gray butterfly like a big moth. Well, swarm themselves, and swarm around the lamp at night. It was only later that they explained to me that it is in this butterfly that the caterpillars damage cabbage. In short - this cabbage scoop. It was then that I began to knock them out near the lamp with a fly swatter. ”
Alexander, Privolnoe
Moth Caterpillar and its mouth apparatus
In the structure of the moth caterpillar, everything is adapted in order to feed and gain weight as quickly as possible.In fact, it is a universal consumer of edible raw materials and a powerful processing factory.
One caterpillar of the usual butterfly (not moth) can eat per day food several times more in weight than it weighs itself. For moth caterpillars, this is not typical - their food is rude enough and they eat less. Accordingly, they grow more slowly than the caterpillars of other species.
Like the caterpillars of other butterflies, the mouth apparatus of the moth caterpillar is of the gnawing type, consists of two mandibles with incisors on each, which ensures effective gnawing of fibers of fabric or hair.
It is interesting
There are moths, the caterpillars of which live in the horns of African antelopes and feed on keratin - the substance from which the horns, in fact, consist. In other moles, the larvae feed on wax in bee hives (the so-called wax moth).
In most species of home moth, the caterpillars are very similar in appearance. They have a light body with a yellowish or pinkish tinge and a contrasting brown head. Their larvae are similar to the well-known caterpillars of codling moths.
In general, various types of moth are recognized pests, and they harm not only clothes or food, but also trees, bushes and mushrooms.But at the same time, these butterflies do not pose a direct danger to humans.
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