How is Moth Evolution Linked to Bat Echolocation?
Inextricably, in some species. In his fascinating contribution to Recent Advances in the Study of Bats, James Fullard at the University of Toronto in Canada reports that the auditory system of Noctuid (Cutworm) moths evolved as a direct result of predation by bats. Dr Fullard notes that this species doesnt use sound socially, but their tympanal (middle ear) organs are often most sensitive to the frequency of calls emitted by echolocating (and, therefore, hunting) bats. In other words, these moths have evolved to hear the bats that feed on them coming! Indeed, Dr Fullard has conducted numerous studies into how moth hearing has evolved in relation to the echolocative calls of the bats that feed on them. Over the years, he has come to realize that most moths that fly in the same airspace as hunting bats avoid being eaten by using their ears, which are syntonic with the hunting calls of bats that is to say, moths have evolved to hear in the same sound range that bats have evolved to hunt w
