Euchromia: the Handmaiden or Hornet moth.
Versions of this spectacular beauty are found from Southern
Africa through East Africa and Madagascar to India Australia and Indonesia.
The fist thing you notice about them after ogling their
dazzling array of warning colors is their reluctance to flitter off, as moths
are wont to do. That’s when you realize that something else is going on here;
creatures that are over-confident usually have a reason.
The warning colors are real; you do not want this gaudy
speck in your cereal bowl! They practice what is called “Pharmacophagy” A jawbreaker
that taken literally means, “ They eat (nasty) chemicals” so that they increase
their biological fitness. This constitutes the habit of consuming drugs, that
they get from their food plants so that they can themselves, become toxic to
other animals.
Some food plants give off toxic nectar that gets them a
devoted set of insect pollinators. The plants that the Hornet moth uses falls
into this group. It is significant that the moth does not need this chemical
for the ordinary nutrition of its body.
Euchromia also has a constriction on the abdomen that makes
it look enough like a hornet, for predators to leave it severely alone. We have
seen three of these moths in the last month at the AISM. As we increase the numbers
of indigenous plants, I expect we will have more and more of these beauties to
enjoy at school.
No comments:
Post a Comment