BAGUIO CITY — Between a butterfly, dragonfly and a moth, a moth is often less popular to attract anyone’s fancy, according to Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) entomologists.
Scientifically grouped in the order of insects under Lepidoptera that includes moths and butterflies, moths do not share a spotlight of recognition as butterflies, bees, dragonflies, grasshoppers or beetles.
Lepidoptera term means scale-winged, with lipid meaning scale and ptera meaning, wing.
Even children and adolescents, enraptured by a flying butterfly, seeing bees whizz by or mesmerized by the bulging eyes of dragonflies, tend to shy away from the presence of a moth.
People who love butterflies are often referred to as “butterfly collector,” “butterfly chaser,” or “to catch a butterfly,” for anybody out in the fields trying to snare the insect.
Such synonyms are far different from the words, “butterfly catcher,” that speaks about a girl that all boys can’t help but fall for.
CAR entomologist says they have yet to come across words like “moth catcher, “moth chaser” or “moth collector”.
In the animal kingdom, moths are considered something akin as “ugly stepsisters” of the butterflies.
In all likelihood, this insect is only popularly related to the phrase, “like a moth to a flame,” to describe the fatal attraction of moths winging straight to a light source or fire and going down in a blaze of death. Why moths are attracted to fire or light, CAR entomologists are not so sure.
But Benguet State University (BSU) entomology graduates offer an explanation that light or flame disorients other flying insects like the moth.
BSU Entomology graduates explained as long as moths fly a straight line, their visual pattern remains unchanged. When light source, like fire, lighted candle or bright light is nearby, the light strikes the moth’s eye. And a moth will try to do what it has evolved for millions of years – fly straight to the light and ultimately, to its doom.
BSU entomology scholars gave example of headlights of motor vehicles where often, moths have been found plastered on the headlamp glass, the strong light having totally disoriented the moths’ direction, or moths directly crashing onto lighted bulbs.
But something is amiss that fail to catch many. Compared to butterflies and bees famous for being pollinators, moths have been likened by entomologists as the “underdogs,” or less known pollinators that help sustain countless population of plants in the ecological niches. BSU graduate Jobbels Wallang, from Benguet.
Ecological niches have two important consequences for biodiversity. In ecological sense, niches determine whether species occur and whether they co-exist, according to BSU botany experts.
Moths are vital for the survival of many native plants endemic only in CAR, BSU botany experts explained.
For example, plants possessed of long flowers favor hawk moths that possess long tongue-like proboscises. Moths with shorter proboscis cannot access the plant’s nectar.
It becomes a win-win solution because the hawk moth is likely to visit the same kind of plant during its next feeding stop, increasing the plant’s chances of successful pollination.
Their long proboscis, or mouthpart, makes them important pollinators, since many plants may only be pollinated by hawk moths.
According to the BSU Entomology graduates, there are over 25, 000 specimens of hawk moths which are closely related to butterflies.
By incorporating traits into analysis of species interaction networks, biologists can be able to identify key principles underlying pollination niches.
There is increasing attention to pollinators and their role in providing ecosystem services, the experts explained.
Surprisingly, those who finished botany at BSU revealed moths are as old as dinosaurs, having appeared 200 million years ago. Buterflies are only 40 million years old.
Another group separate from the BSU scholars conducted another separate study titled “Hawk Moths of Baguio City, Philippines: A Preliminary Checklist Derived from Photo-based Observation Records Available in iNaturalist and Philippine Lepidoptera Internet Platforms,” under the auspices of Nino R. Mape, Linda Alisto and Ian Kitching.
These researchers listed their address as No. 18D, Upper P. Burgos Street, Baguio City.
A kind of moth, called hawk moth, as the species composition was identified by the study researchers as among the prevalent of moths in Baguio City, based on photographic records as a result of 275 observations made between January 2014 to August 2021.
Aside from identifying 35 species and subspecies, the researchers also recorded nine (25.71 per cent) of these as Philippine endemics.
Community composition of hawk moths in Baguio City, according to the researchers, composed generally the common species and ubiquitous during rainy moths or wet season, from the months of May to October.
Mape, Alisto and Kitching explained they conducted the study to demonstrate to the Baguio public the existing dearth of information regarding Philippine hawk moths and to drum up support of basic lepidopterological studies.
“Here, we attempted to bridge some of the research gaps in studies of Philippine hawk moths. Specifically the inadequate study effort on both Luzon Island and in urbanized habitat. To better understand the hawk moth compostion of Baguio city, an urbanized area, we conducted a species inventory utilizing data derived from available photographic records on two social network platforms, iNaturalist and Philippine Lepidoptera,” the researchers explained.
Opportunistic data collection from these two platforms was employed by using search terms to identify hawk moth observations in Baguio City. Accounts of observers identified as having made an observation were scanned for data collection and to avoid data inaccuracy. Observations to unequivocally identify species were included in the data base, the study explained.
Majority of the observations were of adult hawk moths seen at rest on walls inside and around SM Baguio. These were probably attracted to the intense lighting of SM Baguio mall during nighttime and stayed there until morning, the researchers noted.
At Upper Session Road, the researchers found moth belonging to other families, particularly Eribidae, Noctuidae, Crambidae and Geometridae, said species usually found early in the morning.
A species of the genus and rare Macroglossum haslami, haslami Clark was documented at Pinsao Pilot Project barangay on July 4, 2021, the researchers revealed.
For other species documented only a few times, the researchers said it was hard to predict in which months they are most likely to appear in Baguio City.
Interesting characteristics among the hawk moths studied in Baguio City was their defensive behavior like high pitched squeaks of the species Acherontia lachesis.
Several observations also featured species in their larval stage. “Hawk moths are herbivorous during their larval stage and their association with plants can range from being high specialist to extremely generalist, “the study noted.
The larvae of the commoner hawk moth frequently exploit plants that are used as food or ornamentals which are often typically planted in Baguio city, the study explained.
As explained by the experts, plants that hawk moths feed on are endangered, suffering from deforestation and tourism. Plants hawk moths often visit are the sweet-smelling flowers grown in industry scale in Benguet.
More studies are needed to generate data on the phenology as well as abundance and diversity of hawk moths, the study noted.
Authors of the study also acknowledged the contributions of Baguio city residents Bonnie Batnag, Raquel Valdez Tira, Marjorie V. Hafalla, Desmond Allen and Paul Engler of Brent School, Baguio City, for the successful culmination of the study.
