Sphingidae Hawkmoths

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06.12.2015 1:04, Pavel Morozov

It was Vadim Viktorovich and I want to know YOUR personal opinion.After all, you are a great connoisseur of butterflies, including hawkmoth.I think all Forum participants will be interested.

Dear Evgeny Ivanovich,
I personally have doubts about the ability to feed, even if induced, in the species you mentioned.
I repeat, we need an experiment.
However, the proboscis of an ocular hawk moth, unfolded by someone and immersed in syrup, etc., is NOT a direct proof of the ability to eat (a funny fact would turn out - it was not noticed actively eating, but I don't mind being treated "with a spoon").
Active movements of the proboscis (unfolded) even on the food substrate are also questionable evidence.
A more reliable proof is that when feeding again, the butterfly will independently spread its proboscis and submerge it in the syrup.
But if this option is not reliable enough, then you can simply measure the mass of the substrate before and after.

We, after all, are not cryptozoologists after all. We need a fact that is financially confirmed.

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04.01.2016 18:29, Hemaris

In general, there are 100% feeding species among the smerentinae, such as hawk moth of the genus Sataspes. Among other things, they also fly during the day, imitating the color of local carpenter bees. But this genus is rather a "white crow". I once bred Clanis undulosa and Amplypterus panopus. Both species have fairly decent proboscises. Naturally, I tried to feed them, but the level of feed fluid never dropped by half a millimeter, which makes it safe to say that these species do not take food. I hope I have dispelled your arguments about the nutrition of our poplar, ocellate and linden trees.

When you pour water into an empty bottle, you can also say that she drinks)))

This post was edited by Hemaris - 04.01.2016 18: 30

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09.01.2016 19:18, Euchloron

As for the nutrition of" non-feeding " species, I can say the following. I've bred all the local smertins many times, and I have a pretty good idea of their biology. I, like most experts, was convinced that they were afagi. However, a couple of years ago I saw with my own eyes a very funny picture. I grew (very sloppily) linden hawks, which turned out to be small and weak due to the fact that their caterpillars ate periodically dried leaves... When the butterflies came out, I accidentally picked up one of them with a wet hand and was simply dumbfounded by the fact that this female spread her five-to six-millimeter proboscis, which turned out to be incredibly mobile, about like a torn lizard tail

), and began to drink water. Then I specially added water drops to her, which she sucked out completely in large quantities. Then she drank a drop of honey solution and at some point got drunk, removed the proboscis and calmed down. The same female then drank on another day.
A month later, I tried to get a fat, fat ocellatus drunk, but he refused.
In short, I can say with absolute certainty that at least in the linden hawk moth, the proboscis is well-muscled and fully functional. Whether they can absorb anything other than water is unknown, but they can drink water for sure. However, this probably doesn't affect their ability to reproduce much. But here it is worth noting that a number of feeding species, such as the lilac hawk moth, for example, reproduce perfectly in artificial conditions without feeding and have almost the same fecundity.

10.01.2016 0:32, ИНО

They say the same thing everywhere. Evgeny, it was always believed that sunflowers turn after the sun, until an experiment was conducted. and it turned out that their inflorescences are always turned in one direction. .

This is who made such an opening and closing? Heliotropism was closed, it remains to close the law of universal gravitation (as in the cartoon "38 parrots") and you can run away - the world is known.

http://vk.com/sphingidaeThey say the same thing everywhere.

Well, since they say "everywhere", and especially in this authoritative source, I do not dare to doubt and I will never believe the words of Euchloron, you never know what he saw heretical there. Do not believe your eyes, believe the words of my "Club of hawkmoth lovers".
But seriously, it is very easy to determine whether a butterfly feeds or simply moves its proboscis in nostalgia for the times of distant ancestors: you need to slip it a small drop, and if it decreases noticeably after dipping the proboscis, then the oral organs are quite functional. True, it is far from a fact that what is drunk is digested, and does not pass through transit. Therefore, for greater confidence, it would be necessary to look at the work on the anatomy and physiology of the digestive system of specific species. Unfortunately, the" Club of Hawkmoth Lovers " has not published anything on this topic. If you think about it a little, it becomes obvious that aphagia can be caused both morphophysiologically and ethologically, and the latter does not necessarily imply the former. That is, if a butterfly does not usually feed in nature, which is well known from authoritative studies, this does not necessarily prohibit it from feeding in certain situations on an exceptional basis. And there is no contradiction here.

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16.01.2016 12:04, Hierophis

It was necessary to inject a needle, then it would be more plausible ))

And sunflowers still move behind the sun, and even how amazing it is to hear such peremptory things from some naturalists = 0 Yes, by maturity sunflowers stop moving and freeze in a certain "middle" position, but while they are young - they turn their heads behind the sun, just like probably all the flowers, the mechanism is the same there even in the room, this is clearly visible - the plants turn their sprouts to the window, and when the lamp shines in the evening, the plants have time to turn to it. It is the same in the steppe along the slope of young peduncles.

We look and enjoy ourselves, there are sunflowers in the same place, although there are also "refutations" taken on ancient sunflowers, from which dust is already flying))))

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MYJEm99MYQ