Antennae Used to Detect Pheromones, Find Mates

a brown moth with large antennae sits on a grass stem against a grassy background and blue sky

Biological Strategy

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Image: Krzysztof Niewolny / Pixabay / Free non-commercial use

Regulate Reproduction or Growth

Reproduction and growth are two physiological processes that occur in all living systems. There are situations when conditions are right for both, and other situations when continuing either harms the living system because both have a very high energy cost. Reproduction and growth are unique in that both can stop until conditions improve, although stopping either for an extended time can cause problems. An example of regulating reproduction is a process called delayed implantation or embryonic diapause found in some mammals, such as otters. An otter’s embryos sometimes temporarily cease developing and won’t develop further until the female senses that conditions are suitable.

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Sense Chemicals (Odor, Taste, etc.) From the Environment

Chemicals are important for signaling and communication among living systems, either intentionally (such as when two living systems try to find one another) or unintentionally (such as when a plant emits a chemical signal that an herbivore can use to find a tasty bite). They are also important for other uses, such as navigating or finding sources for minerals. But chemical signals are often relatively weak and disperse when moving through water or gases. Therefore, detecting them requires specialized abilities, including a way to determine where they are coming from. A well known example of sensing chemicals can be seen in ants following a pheromone trail laid down by others in their colony to locate a quality and abundant food source.

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Insects

Class Insecta (“an insect”): Flies, ants, beetles, cockroaches, fleas, dragonflies

Insects are the most abundant arthropods—they make up 90% of the animals in the phylum. They’re found everywhere on earth except the deep ocean, and scientists estimate there are millions of insects not yet described. Most live on land, but many live in freshwater or saltwater marshes for part of their life cycles. Insects have three distinct body sections: a head, which has specialized mouthparts, a thorax, which has jointed legs, and an abdomen. They have well-developed nervous and sensory systems, and are the only invertebrate that can fly, thanks to their lightweight exoskeletons and small size.

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Highly sensitive antennae of many moths help them detect female sex pheromones thanks to many hairlike olfactory receptors.

Image: Sean McCann /

This is one of the species that has highly sensitive antennae.

Image: Quartl / wikimedia commons /

Antennae of an Atlas Moth (Attacus atlas) in the butterfly house of Maximilianpark Hamm, Germany.

Image: Janice Carr (photo credit) and Oren Mayer (content provider) / Centers for Disease Control and Prevention /

“Certain types of moth have an olfactory sensitivity that verges on the supernatural. They can detect a single molecule of the female sex from miles away. Males of the saturniid, bombycid, and lasiocampid families of moth, which include luna, emperor, polyphemus, vaporer, and silk moths, have large, feathery antennae that bear the moths’ hairlike olfactory receptors in great quantities (as many as 60,000 in some species). Thanks to their broad shape, the antennae come into contact with the largest possible volume of air, making them perfect scent receivers.” (Shuker 2001:28)

“The females of some moths produce an odour that the males can detect
with large feathery antennae. So sensitive are these organs and so
characteristic and powerful is the scent, that a female has been known
to summon a male from eleven kilometres away. At such a distance there
must be as little as one molecule of scent in a cubic yard of air, yet
it is sufficient to cause the male to fly in pursuit of its source. He
needs both antennae to do this. With only one, he cannot establish
direction, but with two he can judge on which side the scent is
stronger and so fly steadily towards it. A female emperor moth, in a
cage in a wood, transmitting a perfume undetectable to our nostrils,
has attracted over a hundred huge males from the surrounding
countryside within three hours.” (Attenborough 1979:96)

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References

“Certain types of moth have an olfactory sensitivity that verges on the supernatural. They can detect a single molecule of the female sex hormone from miles away. Males of the saturniid, bombycid, and lasiocampid families of moth, which include luna, emperor, polyphemus, vaporer, and silk moths, have large, feathery antennae that bear the moths’ hairlike olfactory receptors in great quantities (as many as 60,000 in some species). Thanks to their broad shape, the antennae come into contact with the largest possible volume of air, making them perfect scent receivers.” (Shuker 2001:28)

Book

The Hidden Powers of Animals: Uncovering the Secrets of Nature

26/02/2021 | Dr. Karl P. N. Shuker

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