The Madagascar hawk moth, whose existence was predicted by Charles Darwin in the 19th century, has now been officially recognized as a new species. The moth in question is Xanthopan praedicta and it has the longest tongue of all the insects that exist on the planet. Its very long tongue measures up to 30 centimeters, and it is the only one capable of reaching the bottom of the nectar tubes of the Madagascar star orchid.
Famous for its huge tongue
In 1862, when Charles Darwin received an orchid specimen from Madagascar with its incredible 12-inch long nectar tube, he exclaimed in a letter to a friend: “My God, what an insect could suck this!” The English naturalist then speculated that it would take a moth with an extraordinarily long tongue to reach the nectar that fills the bottom of these flowers.
He wasn’t the only one who thought about it. Five years later, in 1867 , the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace also considered this impressive orchid, predicting that the moth would be similar to a hawk moth with a long proboscis . Furthermore, he argued: “Such a moth can be safely predicted to exist in Madagascar, and naturalists visiting that island should search for it with as much confidence as astronomers searched for the planet Neptune, and they will be just as successful.”
Two decades later, in 1903, German entomologist Karl Jordan and zoological banker Walter Rotschild described the moth as a subspecies of Morgan’s sphinx.
Darwin and Wallace were right
However, a group of researchers from the Natural History Museum in London has come to another conclusion. After analyzing the genetic and physical characteristics of the Madagascar moth, they discovered that it is not a mere subspecies, but a new species in its own right.
“Imagine my excitement as I unrolled and measured the proboscis of a male Xanthopan in the rainforest of Madagascar, realizing that it was probably the world record holder ,” Lees said in a statement from the Natural History Museum in London. “The taxonomic change now propose finally gives due recognition to species level, one of the most celebrated endemic to Madagascar s”.
The team found 25 morphological differences between the Madagascar and African hawk moths, including significant variations in the shape of male and female genitalia, wing shapes, and color patterns.
“The underside of the Madagascar hawk moth is pink, while the underside of the African hawk moth is whitish or yellowish,” the authors clarify.
They argue that the discovery of the polill at Xanthopan praedicta would make Darwin very happy.
This moth in question is only found in Madagascar, and its life is intimately intertwined with the plants that live there . The extraordinary length of the tongue makes this insect very vulnerable to predators such as bats and lemurs. To avoid this, the moths uncoil their tongue only when they approach the orchid and re-roll it as soon as they finish eating.
