Sonar Jamming in the Bat-Moth Arms Race

Bats and moths are an example of a diffuse evolutionary arms race - a situation where groups of prey and predator species evolve increasingly sophisticated means to out-compete the other. Chapter one provides an overview of this arms race. Bats capture night-flying insects using highly sophisticated echolocation and flight. Most macrolepidoptera are eared and bat echolocation calls stimulate evasive flight reactions. Some tiger moths (Lepidoptera: Erebidae, subfamily Arctiinae) also respond to bats with trains of ultrasonic clicks which 1) truthfully or deceitfully warn bats of a distasteful prey, 2) startle bats, or 3) interfere with or jam bat sonar. Evidence is strong for the warning and startle hypotheses, although the startle effect is ephemeral. The jamming hypothesis has not been confirmed to occur in nature.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Corcoran, Aaron J.

• anti-predator defenses

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/38545

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/38545