Another Blood Feeder? Experimental Feeding of a Fruit-Piercing Moth Species on Human Blood in the Primorye Territory of Far Eastern Russia (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae: Calpinae)

A comparative survey of proboscis morphology and associated structures in fruit-piercing, tear-feeding, and blood-feeding moths in Calpinae (Lepidoptera: Erebidae)

“…Males of ten Calyptra species have been documented piercing mammalian skin and feeding on blood under either natural or experimental conditions (Fig. 1f;Bänziger 1971bBänziger , 1982Bänziger , 1989Zaspel et al 2007;Zaspel 2008a). Bänziger (1986, pp.…”

“…Calyptra fletcheri has only been hematophagous under experimental conditions (Bänziger 1989). Calyptra thalictri is an obligate fruit piercer in southern Europe (refusing blood meals) and was found to be hematophagous under experimental conditions in Far Eastern Russia (Zaspel et al 2007). The remaining seven species (Calyptra bicolor, C. eustrigata, C. minuticornis, C. ophideroides, C. orthograpta, C. parva, and C. pseudobicolor) have been recorded feeding on blood in nature (Bänziger 2007).…”

Caterpillars and moths

“…64,67 Finally, adult moths of the genus Calyptra have a stiff, barbed proboscis that can be used to penetrate intact mammalian skin in order to feed on blood. 3,57,68 …”

Caterpillars and moths

“…100 Although the genus Calyptra is widely distributed, including distribution in the United States, only species from southern and Southeast Asia and eastern Russia have been documented to bite humans. 100 Only male moths are known to bite.…”

“…100 Although the genus Calyptra is widely distributed, including distribution in the United States, only species from southern and Southeast Asia and eastern Russia have been documented to bite humans. 100 Only male moths are known to bite. 17,100,101 Bites from these moths are variously described as painless and transient to intensely painful with swelling that may remain until the next day.…”