@article {22982, title = {Wettability and morphology of proboscises interweave with hawkmoth evolutionary history}, journal = {Journal of Experimental Biology}, volume = {226}, year = {2023}, month = {10/2023}, pages = {jeb245699}, chapter = {jeb245699}, abstract = {

Hovering hawkmoths expend significant energy while feeding, which should select for greater feeding efficiency. Although increased feeding efficiency has been implicitly assumed, it has never been assessed. We hypothesized that hawkmoths have proboscises specialized for gathering nectar passively. Using contact angle and capillary pressure to evaluate capillary action of the proboscis, we conducted a comparative analysis of wetting and absorption properties for 13 species of hawkmoths. We showed that all 13 species have a hydrophilic proboscis. In contradistinction, the proboscises of all other tested lepidopteran species have a wetting dichotomy with only the distal ~10\% hydrophilic. Longer proboscises are more wettable, suggesting that species of hawkmoths with long proboscises are more efficient at acquiring nectar by the proboscis surface than are species with shorter proboscises. All hawkmoth species also show strong capillary pressures which, together with the feeding behaviors we observed, ensure that nectar will be delivered to the food canal efficiently. The patterns we found suggest that different subfamilies of hawkmoths use different feeding strategies. Our comparative approach reveals that hawkmoths are unique among Lepidoptera and highlights the importance of considering the physical characteristics of the proboscis to understand the evolution and diversification of hawkmoths.

}, keywords = {ADULT FEEDING, AGRIUS, CAPILLARY PRESSURE, CONTACT ANGLE, DARAPSA, DOLBA, ENYO, EUMORPHA, FEEDING EFFICIENCY, FLUID DYNAMICS, FLUID-STRUCTURE INTERACTION, HEMARIS, HYLES, MANDUCA, MENISCUS, PARATREA, PROBOSCIS, SPHINGIDAE, XYLOPHANES}, doi = {10.1242/jeb.245699}, author = {Palaoro, A.V. and Gole, A.R. and Sun. Y. and Puchalski, A. and Beard, C.E. and Adler, P.H. and Kornev, K.G.} } @article {22077, title = {Hawkmoth pollination in the genus Oenothera}, journal = {Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany}, volume = {5}, year = {1963}, month = {04/1963}, pages = {357-419}, chapter = {357}, keywords = {CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS, EUMORPHA, FLIGHT PERIOD, HYLES, MANDUCA, NECTAR COMPOSITION, OENOTHERA, ONAGRACEAE, POLLINATION, POLLINATOR SPECIFICITY, SPHINGIDAE, SPHINX, USA}, doi = {10.5642/aliso.19640504.02}, author = {Gregory, D.P.} } @article {22077, title = {Hawkmoth pollination in the genus Oenothera}, journal = {Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany}, volume = {5}, year = {1963}, month = {04/1963}, pages = {357-419}, chapter = {357}, keywords = {CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS, EUMORPHA, FLIGHT PERIOD, HYLES, MANDUCA, NECTAR COMPOSITION, OENOTHERA, ONAGRACEAE, POLLINATION, POLLINATOR SPECIFICITY, SPHINGIDAE, SPHINX, USA}, doi = {10.5642/aliso.19630503.12}, author = {Gregory, D.P.} } @article {21631, title = {Are pollinating hawkmoths declining in the northeastern United States? An analysis of collection records}, journal = {PLoS ONE}, volume = {12}, year = {2017}, month = {10/2017}, pages = {e0185683}, chapter = {e0185683}, abstract = {

\"Increasing attention to pollinators and their role in providing ecosystem services has revealed a paucity of studies on long-term population trends of most insect pollinators in many parts of the world. Because targeted monitoring programs are resource intensive and unlikely to be performed on most insect pollinators, we took advantage of existing collection records to examine long-term trends in northeastern United States populations of 26 species of hawk moths (family Sphingidae) that are presumed to be pollinators. We compiled over 6,600 records from nine museum and 14 private collections that spanned a 112-year period, and used logistic generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) to examine long-term population trends. We controlled for uneven sampling effort by adding a covariate for list length, the number of species recorded during each sampling event. We found that of the 22 species for which there was sufficient data to assess population trends, eight species declined and four species increased in detection probability (the probability of a species being recorded during each year while accounting for effort, climate, and spatial effects in the GLMMs). Of the four species with too few records to statistically assess, two have disappeared from parts of their ranges. None of the four species with diurnal adults showed a trend in detection probability. Two species that are pests of solanaceous crops declined, consistent with a seven-fold drop in the area planted in tobacco and tomato crops. We found some evidence linking susceptibility to parasitoidism by the introduced fly Compsilura concinnata (Tachinidae) to declines. Moths with larvae that feed on vines and trees, where available evidence indicates that the fly is most likely to attack, had a greater propensity to decline than species that use herbs and shrubs as larval host plants. Species that develop in the spring, before Compsilura populations have increased, did not decline. However, restricting the analysis to hawk moth records from areas outside of a \"refuge\" area where Compsilura does not occur did not significantly increase the intensity of the declines as would be predicted if Compsilura was the primary cause of declines. Forests have recovered over the study period across most of the northeastern U.S., but this does not appear to have been a major factor because host plants of several of the declining species have increased in abundance with forest expansion and maturation. Climate variables used in the GLMMs were not consistently related to moth detection probability. Hawk moth declines may have ecological effects on both the plants pollinated by these species and vertebrate predators of the moths.\"

}, keywords = {AMPHION, COMPSILURA, DARAPSA, DEIDAMIA, DOLBA, EUMORPHA, HEMARIS, HYLES, LEPIDOPTERA, LINTNERIA, MANDUCA, POLLINATION, POPULATION DECLINE, PROSERPINUS, SPHECODINA, SPHINGIDAE, SPHINX, TACHINIDAE, USA}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0185683}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0185683}, author = {Young, B.E. and Auer, S. and Ormes, M. and Rapacciuolo, G. and Schweitzer, D. and Sears, N.} }