do Leps walk?

stanlep at commspeed.net stanlep at commspeed.net
Sat Jan 17 09:17:31 EST 2009


It may be the Noctua pronuba moths have an escape adaptation that works in
the field but not on a cement floor. It probably dropped expecting to land
in grass it could wiggle into. Since it is not an intelligent creature to
know it is on concrete and there is no grass, it continues following its
instincts to find grass rather than fly off.
Stan

> On Jan 17, 2009, at 12:20 AM, The Arthurs wrote:
>
>> Hi. Thanks for your responses on Metardaris cosinga. It is a very
>> interesting Lepidopter. I am interested on walking vs. flying in
>> creatures that can fly, and why birds almost always walk if they
>> can. What about Leps? Do you know of any Lepidopters that can fly
>> that regularly walk? I have seen Noctua pronuba moths, after being
>> swiped at with a net, drop to the ground (the cold cement of a gas-
>> station) and run around in circles like a cockroach, apparently
>> thinking that it could run better than it could fly, and, therefore,
>> running was a better way to get away than flying. The moth was
>> definitely not injured by the net. That is the only time I have ever
>> observed a Lepidopter naturally walking rather than flying. Have any
>> of you seen or heard of any other such occurences? Are there species
>> that regularly walk rather than flying? Thanks.  -- Noah.
>
>



 
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