Mouthpart morphology of moths and its relationship to feeding habits

Monday, November 14, 2022

9:00 AM – 9:12 AM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 224

Presenting Author(s)

Elaine M. Bast

Student
Kent State University
Massillon, Ohio

Co-Author(s)

RF

Rena Fonseca

Kent State University
North Canton, Ohio
CG

Courtney Goebeler

Kent State University
North Canton, Ohio
Kristen E. Reiter

Research Assistant
Kent State University
North Canton, Ohio
PV

Peter Van Zandt

Birmingham-Southern College
Birmingham, Alabama
Matthew S. Lehnert

Associate Professor
Kent State University
Clinton, Ohio

Butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) use their modified mouthparts (proboscis) to feed on a wide array of fluids. Previous reports have shown that the morphology of butterfly proboscises relates to feeding habits; however, despite moths representing the vast majority of lepidopteran lineages, their mouthparts and how they relate to feeding habits has received little attention. Here, we used two types of bait, floral-bait and fermenting-rotting fruit bait, to collect moths in traps in northeastern Ohio. The collected moths were identified and then had their proboscises studied using scanning electron microscopy. We found that proboscis architecture relates to feeding habits and that those that feed on fermenting fruit have larger and more dense sensilla styloconica and a larger drinking region, as determined by dorsal legulae morphology. Unlike butterflies, our findings indicate that many moth species attracted to floral lures have sensilla styloconica, but these are more scattered compared to the rotting-fruit feeders and have smaller proboscises that can still access floral tubes. Our results indicate a widespread theme among lepidopteran lineages that natural selection has optimized proboscis morphology according to feeding habits.