Moths are attracted to light? They are nocturnal creatures… why not come out during the day?.. there is plenty of light… does light bring some sort of nourishment? What is in the light? Their not getting food from it, no water, what is the purpose?
Moths are mostly nocturnal for safety from predators (fewer at night, harder to see, you know…). Also it is believed they possibly use light markers for navigating. One hypothesis is that they use starlight or moonlight to give them a fixed reference point, keeping it to their right or left. An artificial light source can confuse this navigation, and they end up circling it keeping it “fixed” (and bumping into it due to their poor flying).
(I know, I don’t have a cite, but I’m pretty sure this is the popular belief in the biology world - herd it from a Lepidopterist, I did. Besides I’m too lazy right now to look it up.)
Such is the Mango.
From How Stuff Works
What possible benefit could a moth obtain from “following the moon”? I mean if you consider that as the Earth rotates the position of the moon changes. By what possible method could following a reference point that is constantly changing be beneficial to the survival of a species? I mean it is not as if they will ever get to some specific location. Also considering how quickly the white moths in post industrial England evolved in response to the soot encrusted trees, does it not stand to reason that the moths that are attracted to artificial light sources and die would be gradually ,through natural selection, be reducing the prevalence of this trait? Another thing that just occured to me, how many moths are out there that we do not see because they are not attracted to artificial light sources? Is it possible that we only see the retarded ones?
So that the mods know which factual forum to move this to, I give you Cecil Adams on Why are moths attracted to light?
‘Following the moon’ is a short-term navigtional aid. Basically meaning you can fly in a straight line by keeping at a certain angle to the moon. It’s not something that can be applied over days or weeks.
As for moths in industrtial Britain - they didn’t evolve, just that the white ones got eaten quicker. ‘Evolution’ is something that takes place across many generations. The change in moth population will have certainly affected moth evolution, but was not evolution itself.
First things first. Though I am new to this forum I do know better than to toss (not in the English sense) around technical terms, in cases where they are inappropriate. It may be that I have little experience with internet forums, but I do realize that people who post to this one are indeed much smarter than the average bear (myself excluded). That said I stand corrected for misusing the word evolution.
However I still wonder what could be the advantage of an evolutionary adaptation of a desire to follow the moon. Where does it lead? Given the speculated scope of a moths eyesight, the moon travels sufficiently fast (well the earth rotates sufficiently fast which makes it appear that the moon moves across the sky, and the moon itself does actually change its relative position to any given location on earth) that the calculations required to successfully navigate a back azimuth are certainly orders of magnitude beyond the capabilities of moths.
I realize I am pretty slow compared to many who post here, but can you explain how the explanations so far given amount to more than moths are attracted to light sources because they evolved an attraction to navigating by the light of the moon even though it does not get them anywhere, or back to anywhere?
kahdji: thanks for the link to spy ware central…
Manhatten: sorry if I posted to the wrong forum. I was just reading articles by staff members and clicked the link that said “Reply to this article”
Off to General Questions.
Cajun Man
for the SDMB