UF researchers pit moths against bats in recent study

New evidence shows moths with elongated tails and hindwings have a better chance of escaping a bat attack.

In a study published July 4 in Science Advances, researchers at UF and Boise State University teamed up to find out why tails help assist moths escape bats.

“(This study) is really kind of a major step forward in trying to understand how insects and their primary predators, bats, are able to interact with each other and get away from each other,” said study supervisor and associate curator of lepidoptera and biodiversity at the Florida Museum of Natural History Akito Kawahara.

Kawahara said the yearlong study took place at both UF and Boise State in Idaho. UF’s research focused on understanding the evolution of tails on moths. He said if tails are important tools for escaping bats, over time, more moths would tend to have these features.

The team tested four hindwing shapes in real time battles between moths and bats to see which moths were the most successful at escaping.

According to the study, the attacks were able to be seen using high-speed videography. The videos showed moths with longer tails and hindwings have a higher escape rate.

“There’s so many new things we are discovering with this new technology,” Kawahara said about high-speed videography. “Ten years ago, 20 years ago we probably wouldn’t (have) been able to do some of this work in the way we did because we didn’t have the tools we do now.”

The same team released another study in 2015 that showed moths with tails survive bat attacks better than those without, said co-author and Boise State doctoral student Juliette Rubin.

Rubin said her favorite aspect of the study was the process of data collection, watching and videoing the bats and moths duke it out in the live “dogfight” room.

“It was always fun to collaborate with the Florida team, and it was neat for us to meld our worlds together,” said Rubin. “Seeing the interactions (of the bats and moths) unfold in real time is really impressive.”

Kawahara and Rubin emphasized the importance of the 160,000 moth species in our world as they are an important component of the natural environment.

“It’s important to broaden our understanding of the natural world,” said Rubin. “As the world and biodiversity changes, we’ll (be able) to understand how things have evolved to our present day.”

Follow Dana Cassidy on Twitter@danacassidy_and contact her atdcassidy@alligator.org.