The BBC covers one of Charles Darwin’s most famous predictions:
Sunday Night Movie: Darwin’s Moth
Alex Wild on insects, science, and photography
-
A personal blog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
Myrmecos- derived from the ancient greek word for "ant"- hosts Alex's musings about these and other little creatures that share our planet.
Questions? Email alwild [at] myrmecos.net; or follow @Myrmecos on Twitter.
-
Recent Images
-
-
Bits and Pieces
How incredibly wonderful! Thanks so much for this post.
I understand the reasoning to say hawk moth instead of hummingbird, but aren’t there hummingbirds that have similar relationships with flowers?
I guess what I’m asking is what’s the size difference between the longest tonged hummingbird and this moth.
The highly diverse South American hummingbirds have lots of variety in bill shape and length, correlated with the features of the flowers they prefer or which predominate in their habitat.
I suspect flower color was a key element in Darwin’s prediction. Hummingbirds go for red, while moths prefer white.
That, plus this moth is from Madagascar, where no hummingbirds occur. There are nectarivorous sunbirds, with the same color preferen ces as hummers.
Anyone know which documentary this is from?
Cheers, Nicholas
I’m not sure- it seems to be a program highlighting the holdings of BMNH.