We’ve all come across the brown-black drab versions of colourful butterflies, often in the shadows of the night. Ironically though, moths are creatures that belong to the class Lepidoptera, the same as butterflies. Most species are believed to be nocturnal but there are a few day-flying moths too.
Unlike a lot of its kind, the Indian Lily Moth ( Polytela gloriosae) is pretty, with pinks, yellows and whites on its body. It derives its name from lilies that serve as host plants. This moth is nocturnal and may easily be seen in our backyard, though it sometimes ‘follows’ the light and enters houses.
The Pink Rain Lily ( Zephrantus carinata ), a plant native to Mexico, adapts well to potted life in cities and to well-maintained soil beds. In the rainy season, the plant yields flowers with a flashing array of hues. You’ll find beautiful purple and red caterpillars of the Indian Lily Moth on them.
This moth belongs to the family of ‘Noctuidae’, present world over except in the harsh cold of the Antarctic region. A few moths from this family are known to develop a strong connection with their host plants, where the larvae not just feed on the plant, but the adults also pollinate the flowers. In fact, moths are great specific-plant pollinators, where they pollinate a lot of night-blooming flowers.
There are about 10 times the number of moths in the world than butterflies. They occupy diverse habitats, but the majority has not been described. Moths are believed to have evolved long before butterflies, with fossils dated to almost 190 million years ago. We still have moths with no mouth parts.
It is believed that these are old-world moths that existed when they didn’t need to pollinate plants (most were pollinated via the wind). Moths were born, lived, reproduced, and died (they didn’t feed). Their purpose was to be prey for other organisms and maintain the balance in the food chain.
Many moths though do feed on fruits and leaves and have a proboscis to suck nectar. Moths frequently circle artificial lights. The reason for this behaviour is unknown but it seems that celestial light objects like the moon help them fly in a straight line.
The life cycle of both moths and butterflies are fairly similar, but a moth larva makes cocoons instead of turning into a chrysalis.
Another difference is that butterflies have thin antennae with clubs at the ends, , whereas moths’ antennae are feathery with no clubs.
Considering their nocturnal nature and the fact that moths are cold-blooded, they perform something called the ‘Shiver Effect’, where they flap their wings rapidly to generate heat in their flight muscles in the absence of the heat energy from the sun.
The writer is the founder of NINOX - Owl About Nature, a nature-awareness initiative. He is the Delhi-NCR reviewer for Ebird, a Cornell University initiative, monitoring rare sightings of birds. He formerly led a programme at WWF India.
