Tempo and mode of antibat ultrasound production and sonar jamming in the diverse hawkmoth radiation

Files

Link to Full Text

Download Full Text

Publication Date

5-19-2015

Publication Title

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Volume Number

112

Issue Number

20

Abstract

Significance Ultrasound production is one of the most sophisticated antibat strategies in nocturnal insects, yet it has never been thoroughly studied in a phylogenetic framework. We conducted high-throughput field assays using playback of echolocation attack sequences, laboratory bat–moth interaction experiments, and fossil-calibrated phylogenetic analyses to provide the first evidence that multiple unrelated hawkmoth species produce ultrasound and jam bat echolocation. Our robust tree demonstrates that sonar jamming evolved twice during the Miocene after the radiation of insectivorous bats. We provide an example of the power behind collaborative science for revealing the function and historic pattern of behavior, and predict that ultrasound production is a widespread antibat strategy in the extraordinary diversity of nocturnal insects.

Document Type

Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1416679112

Share

 
COinS