REINSTEIN WOODS NATURE PRESERVE DEPEW NY — The order Lepidoptera includes all moths and butterflies. Together, they number over 180,000 different species, and it is thought that 160,000 of them are moths - with many yet to be described.
In the U.S. alone, there are 11,000 moth species. But despite their numbers, moths remain less studied than butterflies.
Entomologist Wayne Gall has studied moths for years, and he believes part of the reason for that is moths' nocturnal nature. "That probably has a lot to do with it, but also, a lot of moths tend to be smaller, more obscure. A lot of them are not very colorful, so they don't catch a lot of people's attention like the more colorful butterflies."
The easiest way to tell the difference between butterflies and moths are the structure of their antenna. Gall explains, "Butterflies have either hooked, knobbed or clubbed antennae. Moths have antennae that are either hair-like without any swelling at the end, or without a hook, or comb-like: they have side branches like the teeth of a comb."
Those moth antennae serve a very important function in their mating cycle, and are amazingly sensitive. When searching for a mate, Gall says that male moths are attracted to chemicals known as pheromones, which are released by the female moth.
"There was a researcher at the University Of Illinois named Gilbert Waldbauer, and he and his students actually did a study where they tagged male Cecropias, and they released them at varying distances from caged virgin females, and that caged virgin female attracted a male as far away as eleven miles!"
Moths also play a critical and underappreciated role in the environment. Like butterflies, they are pollinators, and as they are mainly herbivores feeding on plants,Gall adds that they also serve another important function for the planet. "They're important in recycling plant material. In one step they take plant material and transform it into creeping, crawling insect biomass, which is then available in the food chain for higher level predators."
And they are not without aesthetic appeal - many moths such as the Underwing Moths are quite beautiful. The Giant Silk Moth is both large and spectacular, but has a very short lifespan.
"They don't feed as adults, they don't even have functioning mouth parts. So, really, their whole purpose as adults is mating, and passing on their genes. So they're geared for mate finding and reproduction, and that's it."
Though we may not often see them, they are clearly an important part of our Mother Earth - nocturnal creatures that help shed light on the beauty of nature.
"As an Entomologist, you can never be bored," Gall concludes. "Because every species comes with it's own story. Sometimes there's common themes in those stories, and sometimes they're pretty unique themes...but they're all interesting."