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Project Noah Nature School
Parasemia plantaginis
Wegerichbär
Kalkalpen National Park - Forest
Spotted on Jul 16, 2013
Submitted on Jul 19, 2013
2 Comments
Amazing fact! Similar to the lions' mane case.
Congratulations Martin, your Wood Tiger moth has been chosen to illustrate today's fact for National Moth Week 2017:
National Moth Week 2017 continues! Thanks to all of you who are still submitting moths spottings. In honor of this year’s focus on tiger moths, Project Noah ranger, National Moth Week organizer and Cornell University entomology student Jacob Gorneau is bringing us daily interesting facts about tiger moths (Erebidae: Arctiinae):
"The tiger moths are a group well-known for their very bright, awe-inspiring coloration. Bright coloration in nature can primarily serve two different purposes: aposematism, or warning coloration to prevent being eaten, or coloration to attract mates. In the Wood tiger moth (Parasemia plantaginis), these are in conflict. There are two color morphs in the wood tiger moth, a bright yellow morph and a white morph. While the yellow morph is much more aposematic and is less likely to be preyed upon, the white morph is preferred by females (Nokelainen 2012). Since there are two kinds of selection acting on these moths, survival selection, and sexual selection, there is a trade-off in that being too yellow may ensure survival but also dismal mating prospects and being too white may ensure more successful mating prospects but lower rates of survival. As a result, these moths constantly are in a struggle to find a happy medium between yellow and white that maximizes both their survival and mating prospects".
Read more about the study cited above and the science of evolutionary trade-offs here: http://buff.ly/2h9Q8Wk
Wood Tiger (Parasemia plantaginis) spotted in Austria by Martin Urban
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National Moth Week is from July 22-30. Are you participating? Please register a public or private event here: http://buff.ly/2h9QZGq, especially if your country or region isn't on the map yet!
Don't forget to submit photos of moths you spot here!
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