Peppered moth

Biston betularia

The peppered moth is a temperate species of night-flying moth. Peppered moth evolution is an example of population genetics and natural selection.
Biston betularia Very warm night (~75 degrees F) and humid. Attracted to an incandescent porch light. Biston betularia,Geotagged,Peppered moth,Summer,United States

Appearance

The wingspan is 55mm. median It is relatively stout-bodied, with forewings relatively narrow-elongate. The wings are white, "peppered" with black, and with more or less distinct cross lines, also black. The black speckling varies in amount, in some examples it is almost absent, whilst in others it is so dense that the wings appear to be black sprinkled with white. The antennae of males are strongly bipectinate.
Cleft Headed Looper Caterpillar for the peppered moth Biston betularia,Geotagged,Peppered moth,United States

Naming

In continental Europe, there are three morphs: the white morph ''typica'' , the dark melanistic morph ''carbonaria'' , and an intermediate form ''medionigra''.

In Britain, the typical white morph is known as ''typica'', the melanic morph is ''carbonaria'', and the intermediate phenotype is named ''insularia''.

In North America, the melanic black morph is morpha ''swettaria''. In ''Biston betularia cognataria'', the melanic allele is similarly dominant to the non-melanic allele. There are also some intermediate morphs. In Japan, no melanic morphs have been recorded; they are all morpha ''typica''.
Peppered Moth caterpillar eating my Clitoria flower... 
this is a moth of the Geometridae family, the caterpillars look like they are measuring the plants the live on...  Biston betularia,Fall,Geotagged,Israel,Peppered moth

Distribution

''Biston betularia'' is found in China , Russia, Mongolia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Europe and North America.
Pepper-and-Salt Geometer -  Biston betularia WS: ~50 mm. Long wings that are peppered and have a wavy black AM and PM line. Hosts: Various trees

I wish I had noticed its little, beetle buddy when taking the photo!

Habitat: Attracted to a 365nm black light tube in a semi-rural area Biston betularia,Geotagged,Pepper-and-Salt Geometer,Peppered moth,Summer,United States,biston,moth

Behavior

In Great Britain and Ireland, the peppered moth is univoltine , whilst in south-eastern North America it is bivoltine . The lepidopteran life cycle consists of four stages: ova , several larval instars , pupae, which overwinter live in the soil, and imagines . During the day, the moths typically rest on trees, where they are preyed on by birds.

The caterpillar is a twig mimic, varying in colour between green and brown. On a historical note, it was one of the first animals to be identified as being camouflaged with countershading to make it appear flat , in a paper by Edward Bagnall Poulton in 1887.

It goes into the soil late in the season, where it pupates in order to spend the winter. The imagines emerge from the pupae between late May and August, the males slightly before the females . They emerge late in the day and dry their wings before flying that night.

The males fly every night of their lives in search of females, whereas the females only fly on the first night. Thereafter, the females release pheromones to attract males. Since the pheromone is carried by the wind, males tend to travel up the concentration gradient, i.e., toward the source. During flight, they are subject to predation by bats. The males guard the female from other males until she lays the eggs. The female lays about 2,000 pale-green ovoid eggs about 1 mm in length into crevices in bark with her ovipositor.A mating pair or a lone individual will spend the day hiding from predators, particularly birds. In the case of the former, the male stays with the female to ensure paternity. The best evidence for resting positions is given by data collected by the peppered moth researcher Michael Majerus, and it is given in the accompanying charts. These data were originally published in Howlett and Majerus , and an updated version published in Majerus , who concluded that the moths rest in the upper part of the trees. Majerus notes:

Creationist critics of the peppered moth have often pointed to a statement made by Clarke ''et al''. : "... In 25 years we have only found two ''betularia'' on the tree trunks or walls adjacent to our traps, and none elsewhere". The reason now seems obvious. Few people spend their time looking for moths up in the trees. That is where peppered moths rest by day.

From their original data, Howlett and Majerus concluded that peppered moths generally rest in unexposed positions, using three main types of site. Firstly, a few inches below a branch-trunk joint on a tree trunk where the moth is in shadow; secondly, on the underside of branches and thirdly on foliate twigs. The above data would appear to support this.

Further support for these resting positions is given from experiments watching captive moths taking up resting positions in both males and females .

Majerus, ''et al.'', have shown that peppered moths are cryptically camouflaged against their backgrounds when they rest in the boughs of trees. It is clear that in human visible wavelengths, ''typica'' are camouflaged against lichens and ''carbonaria'' against plain bark. However, birds are capable of seeing ultraviolet light that humans cannot see. Using an ultraviolet-sensitive video camera, Majerus et al. showed that ''typica'' reflect ultraviolet light in a speckled fashion and are camouflaged against crustose lichens common on branches, both in ultraviolet and human-visible wavelengths. However, ''typica'' are not as well camouflaged against foliose lichens common on tree trunks; though they are camouflaged in human wavelengths, in ultraviolet wavelengths, foliose lichens do not reflect ultraviolet light.

During an experiment in Cambridge over the seven years 2001–2007 Majerus noted the natural resting positions of peppered moths, and of the 135 moths examined over half were on tree branches, mostly on the lower half of the branch, 37% were on tree trunks, mostly on the north side, and only 12.6% were resting on or under twigs.
No one here but us sticks... Peppered moth caterpillar. Crazy thing - I first noticed this caterpillar on Monday. I took my small camera down, but didn't manage to get a sharp photo. When I walked by today there he was - in exactly the same spot, so I grabbed the good camera and came back for a second go.  Biston betularia,Geotagged,Peppered moth,United States

Habitat

In Great Britain and Ireland, the peppered moth is univoltine , whilst in south-eastern North America it is bivoltine . The lepidopteran life cycle consists of four stages: ova , several larval instars , pupae, which overwinter live in the soil, and imagines . During the day, the moths typically rest on trees, where they are preyed on by birds.

The caterpillar is a twig mimic, varying in colour between green and brown. On a historical note, it was one of the first animals to be identified as being camouflaged with countershading to make it appear flat , in a paper by Edward Bagnall Poulton in 1887.

It goes into the soil late in the season, where it pupates in order to spend the winter. The imagines emerge from the pupae between late May and August, the males slightly before the females . They emerge late in the day and dry their wings before flying that night.

The males fly every night of their lives in search of females, whereas the females only fly on the first night. Thereafter, the females release pheromones to attract males. Since the pheromone is carried by the wind, males tend to travel up the concentration gradient, i.e., toward the source. During flight, they are subject to predation by bats. The males guard the female from other males until she lays the eggs. The female lays about 2,000 pale-green ovoid eggs about 1 mm in length into crevices in bark with her ovipositor.

Defense

A mating pair or a lone individual will spend the day hiding from predators, particularly birds. In the case of the former, the male stays with the female to ensure paternity. The best evidence for resting positions is given by data collected by the peppered moth researcher Michael Majerus, and it is given in the accompanying charts. These data were originally published in Howlett and Majerus , and an updated version published in Majerus , who concluded that the moths rest in the upper part of the trees. Majerus notes:

Creationist critics of the peppered moth have often pointed to a statement made by Clarke ''et al''. : "... In 25 years we have only found two ''betularia'' on the tree trunks or walls adjacent to our traps, and none elsewhere". The reason now seems obvious. Few people spend their time looking for moths up in the trees. That is where peppered moths rest by day.

From their original data, Howlett and Majerus concluded that peppered moths generally rest in unexposed positions, using three main types of site. Firstly, a few inches below a branch-trunk joint on a tree trunk where the moth is in shadow; secondly, on the underside of branches and thirdly on foliate twigs. The above data would appear to support this.

Further support for these resting positions is given from experiments watching captive moths taking up resting positions in both males and females .

Majerus, ''et al.'', have shown that peppered moths are cryptically camouflaged against their backgrounds when they rest in the boughs of trees. It is clear that in human visible wavelengths, ''typica'' are camouflaged against lichens and ''carbonaria'' against plain bark. However, birds are capable of seeing ultraviolet light that humans cannot see. Using an ultraviolet-sensitive video camera, Majerus et al. showed that ''typica'' reflect ultraviolet light in a speckled fashion and are camouflaged against crustose lichens common on branches, both in ultraviolet and human-visible wavelengths. However, ''typica'' are not as well camouflaged against foliose lichens common on tree trunks; though they are camouflaged in human wavelengths, in ultraviolet wavelengths, foliose lichens do not reflect ultraviolet light.

During an experiment in Cambridge over the seven years 2001–2007 Majerus noted the natural resting positions of peppered moths, and of the 135 moths examined over half were on tree branches, mostly on the lower half of the branch, 37% were on tree trunks, mostly on the north side, and only 12.6% were resting on or under twigs.

Evolution

The evolution of the peppered moth over the last two hundred years has been studied in detail.
At the start of this period, the vast majority of peppered moths had light coloured wing patterns which effectively camouflaged them against the light-coloured trees and lichens upon which they rested. However, due to widespread pollution during the Industrial Revolution in England, many of the lichens died out, and the trees which peppered moths rested on became blackened by soot, causing most of the light-coloured moths, or ''typica'', to die off due to predation. At the same time, the dark-coloured, or melanic, moths, ''carbonaria'', flourished because they could hide on the darkened trees.

Since then, with improved environmental standards, light-coloured peppered moths have again become common, and the dramatic change in the peppered moth's population has remained a subject of much interest and study. This has led to the coining of the term "industrial melanism" to refer to the genetic darkening of species in response to pollutants. As a result of the relatively simple and easy-to-understand circumstances of the adaptation, the peppered moth has become a common example used in explaining or demonstrating natural selection to laypeople and classroom students through simulations.

The first ''carbonaria'' morph was recorded by Edleston in Manchester in 1848, and over the subsequent years it increased in frequency. Predation experiments, particularly by Bernard Kettlewell, established that the agent of selection was birds who preyed on the ''carbonaria'' morph. Subsequent experiments and observations have supported the initial evolutionary explanation of the phenomenon.

References:

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Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderLepidoptera
FamilyGeometridae
GenusBiston
SpeciesB. betularia