Madagascar Bullseye (IMAGE)

Acoustical Society of America

Madagascar Bullseye

Caption

Moths are a mainstay food source for bats, which use echolocation to hunt their prey. Scientists are studying how moths have evolved passive defenses over millions of years to resist their primary predators. While some moths have evolved ears that detect the ultrasonic calls of bats, many types of moths remain deaf. In those moths, researchers have found that the insects developed types of "stealth coating" that serve as acoustic camouflage to evade hungry bats. Neil will describe his work during the Acoustical Society of America's 176th Meeting, Nov. 5-9. This image shows a Cabbage tree emperor moth (Bunaea alcinoe), one of the species used in Thomas Neil's research.

Credit

Thomas Neil

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