Euproserpinus wiesti

Scientists learned that certain moths are able to escape predatory bats by making sudden evasive movements when they hear the sonar of an approaching bat. Later research disclosed that Euproserpinus wiesti, or the prairie sphinx moth, is able not only to dodge the bats but actually jam the bat’s sonar with extremely rapid ultrasonic clicks. The moths create a sort of blanket of sound around themselves, so the bats cannot sense them clearly in the cloud of noise. The moths are reported to stridulate by rubbing their genital parts together.

BEFORE
​by Francesca Le Lohé

 
The rare Prairie Sphinx Moth (Euproserpinus Wiesti) most likely shared a habitat with their White Lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata). Though the White Lined Sphinx were far more populous, it seems the larvae of both moths would feed on the same evening primrose plants 
 
Maybe the Prairie Sphinx Moth would overhear the fate of their relatives’ young. In The Journal of California Anthropology (1978), Mrs. Ruby E. Modesto (member of the A'wilem 'dog' clan of the Desert Cahuilla people) recounts that “she remembered that her grandmother went out in the spring toward the hills, and they would gather the worms, killing them by pinching off the heads. The worms were roasted on a comol 'griddle' and either immediately eaten or stored. 
​
Francesca Le Lohé
www.francescalelohe.com

AFTER
by Teodora Stepančić

​Teodora Stepančić
teodora.stepancic.com