Which moths might be pollinators? Approaches in the search for the flower‐visiting needles in the Lepidopteran haystack

Zandt, Peter A. Van; Johnson, Daytona D.; Hartley, Chad; LeCroy, Kathryn A.; Shew, H. Wayne; Davis, Brandon T.; Lehnert, Matthew S.

doi:10.1111/een.12782

Cited by 22 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…A distinct apical region of the proboscis could be used to predict flower and non‐flower visitors of adult Glossata by specific characters, such as the configuration of sensilla styloconica and the modified dorsal legulae (Lehnert et al, 2016; Van Zandt et al, 2019; Zenker et al, 2011). Flower‐visiting butterflies have proboscis with fewer sensilla styloconica (Krenn et al, 2001; Lehnert et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The adults can undertake seasonal migrations covering long distances (Fu et al, 2014), but their feeding habits remain largely unknown. Members of the Noctuidae are likely to be flower‐visiting species (Hahn & Brühl, 2016; Van Zandt et al, 2019). Floral nectar, as the primary source of carbohydrates, is crucial for most noctuids to sustain migration and reproduction, as reported in Agrotis ipsilon (Liu et al, 2016) and Mythima separata (Guo et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To test our hypothesis, we study the antennal and proboscis morphologies. We expect to find clues that allow us to obtain aspects of the feeding biology of the species (Van Zandt et al, 2019). Although Tian et al (2015) had briefly investigated the antennal sensilla of A. lepigone , a detailed description had not been published earlier.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sensilla of the antenna and proboscis of Athetis lepigone (Möschler) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2021

Journal of Morphology

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Sensory structures on the antennae and mouthparts of insects are associated with various activities, such as host location, feeding, attracting a mate, and identifying a suitable oviposition site. Athetis lepigone (Möschler) is an important polyphagous Eurasian pest with more than 30 species of host plants. The larvae target bud leaves, prop roots, and tender stems of many agricultural crops, but the feeding habits of the adults remain poorly known. Aiming to understand the feeding behavior of the species, we investigated the fine morphology of its antennae and proboscis using scanning electron microscopy. The antennae of both sexes are filiform, and bear eight types of sensilla: Böhm's bristles, sensilla squamiformia, trichodea, chaetica, basiconica, coeloconica, styloconica, and auricillica. Sensilla trichodea are the most abundant among these sensillum types. The proboscis consists of two elongated, interlocked maxillary galeae that enclose the food canal by dorsal and ventral legulae. The external galeal surface is covered with numerous triangular microtrichia on Zone 1 and abundant blunt microbumps on Zone 2. The surface of the food canal bears closely connected and smooth semicircular ridges, gradually tapering toward the proboscis tip. Three types of sensilla are noticeable on the proboscis: sensilla trichodea, basiconica, and styloconica. We briefly discuss the putative functional significance of the antennal and proboscis sensilla and, based on the specific structural modifications of the proboscis, predict a flower‐visiting habit for A. lepigone.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sensilla of the antenna and proboscis of Athetis lepigone (Möschler) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2021

Journal of Morphology

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“…greater interpopulation gene flow) (Herrera 1987;Macgregor et al 2015Macgregor et al , 2019. Nevertheless, there are still considerable knowledge gaps about their role as pollinators (Hahn and Brühl 2016;Van Zandt et al 2020), and they have seldom been included in pollination networks until recently (Banza et al 2015;Devoto et al 2011;Macgregor and Scott-Brown (2020;Walton et al 2020). Within this insect group, Noctuidae are among the largest families of night-flying Lepidoptera (Mitter et al 1993) and, together with Sphingidae, are among the most common nocturnal flower-visitors (Hahn and Brühl 2016;Macgregor et al 2015;Winfree et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of adult noctuid moths (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and their food plants in a nocturnal pollen-transport network on a Mediterranean island

Ribas-Marqués¹,

Díaz-Calafat

Boi

2022

J Insect Conserv

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Noctuidae belong to one of the largest families of night-flying Lepidoptera. However, despite being among the most common nocturnal flower-visitors, they have seldom been included in pollination networks. Similarly, the current knowledge on food plants used by adults is rather scarce. In this article, we build the first moth–plant pollen transfer network in the Balearic archipelago. We aim to increase the knowledge of which plants are used as food resources by adult Noctuidae, assess how specific or generalist nocturnal pollinators and their food plants are and establish the first baseline information on adult Noctuidae–plant interactions on the archipelago and the Mediterranean. 20.7% of the adult Noctuidae in our samplings carried pollen and were therefore potentially involved in nocturnal pollination. The family Ericaceae, and especially Arbutus unedo, was a key food resource for our moth community, with 46% of the total recorded interactions belonging to this plant. Overall, both plants and moths in our system behaved in a generalist way. Niche overlap was larger in moths than in plants, suggesting that the functional role that moth species take in our system is more redundant than that taken by plants. Robustness values suggest that the network functionality would not collapse despite the extinction of a few species. Implications for insect conservation Detecting flower preferences and the role of nocturnal insects on pollination will allow understanding of ecosystem functionality and will be crucial for conservation of both moths and organisms that depend on them.

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“…To date, studies on pollination systems in New Zealand have predominantly focused on birds and diurnal insects leaving the role of moths largely unexplored, likely due to the difficulty of conducting surveys at night (Newstrom & Robertson 2005;MacGregor et al 2014;Robertson et al 2020). While pollen adhering to moth bodies offers some of the strongest evidence of flower visitation, there is very little information available describing moth pollination and the way in which moths transfer pollen, making this a critically understudied area of research in New Zealand and globally (Buxton et al 2018;van Zandt et al 2019). Declines in pollinators are associated with a loss of the plants they interact with, therefore measuring pollen transfer-or the lack thereof-is important in light of conservation and evolution (Baker 1979;Thomas et al 2004;Newstrom & Robertson 2005;Biesmeijer et al 2006;Klein et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moths can transfer pollen between flowers under experimental conditions

Buxton¹,

Anderson²,

Lord³

2022

NZJE

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To be considered an effective pollinator, a floral visitor must not only be able to remove pollen but also transfer this pollen to a receptive conspecific stigma. While studies of diurnal pollination are commonplace, our understanding of the effectiveness of nocturnal pollinators is limited largely because of the difficulties of doing these studies at night. As a result of this, the way in which moths transfer pollen between flowers has been understudied globally, despite many authors suggesting they could be significant contributors to pollination. Here, we tested whether moths are capable of transferring pollen between flowers under experimental conditions using a fluorescent pollen-tracker powder. A flower-feeding taxon (Noctuidae: Ichneutica plena) and non-feeding taxon (Hepialidae: Wiseana spp.) were contained overnight with flowering shoots of putatively moth-pollinated Leptospermum scoparium and Pimelea prostrata (I. plena only), and putatively bird-pollinated Crocosmia × crocosmiiflora. Moths were able to transfer pollen tracker between flowers for both of the putatively mothpollinated species, while no pollen tracker was removed from putatively bird-pollinated flowers. Both the feeding and non-feeding moth taxa were able to transfer pollen tracker between flowers; however, the feeding taxon could be considered a more effective pollinator because of the greater proportion of individuals both carrying and transferring pollen tracker compared with the non-feeding taxon. This study provides experimental evidence that moths may contribute to the pollination of L. scoparium and P. prostrata, and suggests a reassessment of the pollination ecology for these species is warranted.

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Which moths might be pollinators? Approaches in the search for the flower‐visiting needles in the Lepidopteran haystack

Abstract: This is the author manuscript accepted for publication and has undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as

Cited by 22 publications

References 85 publications

Sensilla of the antenna and proboscis of Athetis lepigone (Möschler) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Sensilla of the antenna and proboscis of Athetis lepigone (Möschler) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

The role of adult noctuid moths (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and their food plants in a nocturnal pollen-transport network on a Mediterranean island

Moths can transfer pollen between flowers under experimental conditions

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