In the eyes of many, the moth is a symbol of damage - damage to clothes, food, wood and agriculture. But as with any subject, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Most species of moths are harmless and there are also many moths that are useful for agriculture.
Belonging in the natural world
Moths belong to the order of butterflies (Lepidoptera) which currently has about 180 thousand species worldwide. Of these, only about 20 species are "day butterflies" that brighten our hearts. All others are considered moths. Among the series of the insect department, the butterfly series is one of the most studied and scientifically documented, and the amount of data collected on them is significantly greater compared to information from other animal systems.
For example, in the State of Nature 2023 report published in May 2024 by the researchers of the National Program for the Assessment of the State of Nature in Israel (the MRG), about 30 observations of mammals and about 60 of birds were used. From the database of butterfly observations that I manage for National butterfly monitoring program I handed it over to the investigators 267 thousand Citizen science observations of butterflies made by volunteers of the monitoring communities.
Most species of moths are nocturnal creatures ("night butterflies"), but many species of moths are active during the day or in the twilight hours, such as the group of butterflies whose name indicates the way they suck the nectar of flowers. They do not land on the flower but flutter over it with quick wing movements like the bees, or the hummingbirds and the hummingbirds, inserting an incredibly long sucker to reach the nectar source in the flower.
In the field of research, in contexts of sensitivity to environmental conditions, the focus is on butterflies today because they are a relatively easy ecological marker to identify, count and track. Moths are difficult to identify and their number is huge. Many moth species in the world have not yet been identified or defined.
Moth or butterfly-day ?
So how do we differentiate between a butterfly-day and a moth. Here I intend to give them signs for easy diagnosis with an unprofessional eye, without the need for in-depth knowledge or a quick DNA test... The most striking characteristic of moths is the colors of the body and wings. The color that dominates them (usually) is brown, gray, black. Full disclosure: there is also an abundance of moths in the world with spectacular colors and shapes.
Stands out for its colors and is common in the country "a beautiful teddy bear" with red dots scattered on the white background of its wings and it flies during the day. And there is also the colorful sassem family, type in Google "red shiny sassem" and enjoy. A second prominent feature is the tentacles (see photo above) which are seen in many moths like a feather or a thin thread. In today's butterflies, the tentacles end in a kind of eyelet and their shape is quite uniform.
In my opinion, the easiest difference to diagnose is that a day butterfly will be in motion most of the time with short breaks to refuel by sucking nectar, while the moth will rest idly until we disturb it...
Another important sign is the position of the wings when resting. In today's butterflies the wings will be closed together or wide open. Whereas the position of the wings in most moths is in the shape of a roof (^).
About the giant moths - who is the biggest moth in Israel?
The range of sizes of the moth butterflies ranges from a few millimeters to tens of centimeters and in the butterfly family we find the giants of the bunch in the moth butterflies. In Israel, the largest butterfly is a giant moth with large eyes called the "Almond Saturn". Saturn's tentacles are a clear example of the feather tentacle configuration. It emerges from its cocoon when the almond blossoms and survives only a few days. The giant almond eyes were apparently intended to create a threatening appearance as a means of protection.
In Thailand, I met the largest moth in the world, the "Atlas", whose wingspan reaches 20 cm. Standing on a bush in the garden, it looks like an imaginary drawing of a giant butterfly and does not move until you lightly touch it. There is a good reason for this, because at the tips of its wings you can see menacing snake heads that drive away It's a wonderful defensive strategy called "mimicry." Many creatures in nature use it in endless shades and colors.
The food moth andHow do you overcome it?
In the communities of kitchen people, the name of the food moth, the tiny "ashnor", which brazenly flies around in the pantry cupboards, is notorious. We bring the food items to the kitchen with our own kind hand in grain bags, flour, rice and other types of food packages. The moth comes packed as an egg, or as a pupa after it has overcome sophisticated cleaning and purification processes of the food manufacturers. The larvae hatch from the moth eggs in a short time and this is where their journey in the pantry begins. The larvae's teeth are able to bite and pierce paper and plastic, so the food bags are not a barrier for them. In a short time you will discover their presence in the form of thin webs in many food bags and small moths will wander among them.
The simple solution: use only glass and hard plastic containers for storing dry products as mentioned above. If you found webs, caterpillars or flying moths inside the glass container, you are guaranteed that it has developed there and has not moved from there to another place and you can close the container tightly and throw the entire contents of the container into the garbage container.
Light pollution: the enemy of moths and nature in general
Most species of moths and more than 80 percent of mammals in the natural world are nocturnal creatures. The massive use of night lights is currently defined as a major source of severe damage to all living systems due to disruption of the functioning of ecosystems since light pollution violates the natural order that has accompanied the earth for 4 billion years. The natural sunlight and the cycles of its appearances are the synchronizer of the activities of most living creatures - from the migration of birds, the systems of vegetation, reproductive processes and even hormonal and other cycles in the human body.
The topic has been flooded in recent years and discussed in plenty of articles. I will mention here only something of his influence on the world of moths. The source of night light since time immemorial has been the moon and by its light navigators made their way to food sources, to find mates and to reproduce. We remember the thousands of mosquitoes and night butterflies that swam madly around every night lamp or street light. But! Every lamp exposed at night is a source of misleading light and a killing ground for hundreds of thousands of moths and nocturnal insects every year. This is how nature's cleaners and recyclers become extinct. Thus, bats that feed on them become extinct and many plants are damaged that the moth larvae protect against fungi. Light pollution accelerates the extinction of the world of moths and insects.
They ask me "Why do I cry at the sight of dog excrement on the street. Because it's polluting?" "No, because I don't see flies!!"
Know the name: Yaakov Flamoni.