Moths
Moths provides a comprehensive account of the diverse natural history of these fascinating and popular insects. This edition is exclusive to newnaturalists.comAnother volume in the popular New Naturalist series, this book is a comprehensive account of the diverse natural history of these fascinating and popular insects.Michael Majerus, author of the popular New Naturalist Ladybirds, examines all aspects of moths, from their life histories to their role as pests to humans. He covers their reproduction, feeding, evolution, habitats and conservation.New Naturalist Moths also discusses the enemies of moths, and the ways they have evolved to avoid detection, including camouflage, warning coloration, and mimicry.This is the definitive text for the study of these insects, written by an established New Naturalist author.
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Collins New Naturalist Library
90
Moths
Michael E. N. Majerus
Sarah A. Corbet ScD
S.M.Walters, ScD, VMH
Prof. Richard West, ScD, FRS, FGS
David Streeter, FIBiol
Derek A. Ratcliffe
The aim of this series is to interest the general reader in the wildlife of Britain by recapturing the enquiring spirit of the old naturalists. The editors believe that the natural pride of the British public in the native flora and fauna, to which must be added concern for their conservation, is best fostered by maintaining a high standard of accuracy combined with clarity of exposition in presenting the results of modern scientific research.
In nearly half a century since the publication of E. B. Fordâs New Naturalist Moths, there have been exciting advances in our understanding of the biology of moths. In particular, moths can now tell us more than ever before about the ways in which natural populations evolve, even over short periods within an ecologistâs lifetime. Michael Majerus brings us these developments in this new book. As a boy he eagerly devoured Fordâs earlier volume, which greatly influenced his subsequent career, and he sees this present book as a direct outcome of that early stimulus. Like his eminent predecessor, he combines an infectious enthusiasm for the natural history of the group with a disciplined scientific approach and a particular fascination for ecological genetics, a field in which moths provide excellent tools for digging into evolutionary questions. This book sets the rich complexity of moth biology in an evolutionary context and shows how the study of this group illuminates more general principles; in sharing his enthusiastic affection for moths the author brings us an alluring introduction to topics such as insect biology, mimicry, predation, dispersal and ecological genetics. By drawing attention to the many unsolved questions to which naturalists might contribute, even without expensive equipment, he tempts us to become active participants in the study of moths as they evolve before our eyes, adapting to the rapid environmental changes that result from human activities.
There are many things that this book is not. It is not a book about moth collecting. It is not a book about how to identify moths. It is not a book about how to study moths. But it is a book about moths: about their lives, their behaviour, their struggles to survive and reproduce within a hostile environment, their multitude of enemies, their extraordinary capabilities in avoiding them, and their future in the face of human-driven change. It is also a book about their beauty.
I was incredibly flattered when I was asked to write this book. I have been a fan of the New Naturalist series since I was ten and a fan of E.B. Ford for just as long, for it was on my tenth birthday that I was given a present of Fordâs Butterflies. To emulate Ford in writing two books for the New Naturalist series I felt was a great honour. However, I only accepted this undertaking after considerable thought and with some trepidation.
I think it necessary to make it clear that this book is neither a revision nor simply an updating of Fordâs wonderful New Naturalist Moths. Indeed, although professionally my field of expertise is that of ecological genetics, a field of science that Ford founded, I have tried to avoid the basic genetical ground covered in Fordâs Moths. This is largely because the fundamentals of genetics described so clearly by Ford nearly half a century ago have changed little, and I would still recommend anyone with an interest in the way that characteristics of moths are inherited to read Fordâs two books, Butterflies and Moths.
This book is concerned more with the place of moths in the biological world. It is thus a book on the natural history of moths, dealing with their behaviour, ecology and evolution. The first chapter introduces the subject of moths, discusses human perceptions of them and describes how they are related to what most people would recognise as the other group of the order Lepidoptera, the butterflies. Chapter 2 describes the basic life cycle of moths, treating each of the four major stages separately while showing how they fit together in the overall cycle from generation to generation. In Chapter 3, the basic processes of evolution that have moulded and continue to mould moths are discussed.
Chapters 4-8 consider how moths live their lives, in a context of their interactions with one another and the rest of their environment. The backdrop of these chapters is a very simple equation that is relevant to all populations of all organisms. It is simply that changes in population size depend on the birth rate, the death rate and any migration into or out of the population. Chapter 4 deals with reproduction and all that that entails, from sex determination through the various and complex aspects of courtship and mating to the point when females finally lay their eggs. Chapter 5 follows the life cycle through the main feeding stage, the larval stage, to the pupa and finally the adult. Here host plant preferences and habitat specialisations are considered. The adult theme is continued in Chapter 6 with a consideration of mothsâ flying abilities, their dispersal, migration and distributions. Death rate is considered in Chapter 7, in which the various biotic enemies of moths, including man, and other causes of moth death, are described. Chapter 8 tells the other side of the story in a discussion of the many and various survival traits that moths have evolved to foil those that would make a meal of them.
