Cycnia tenera

{{italic title}}{{Speciesbox

| name = Dogbane tiger moth

| image = Cycnia teneraPCCP20030807-2447B.jpg

| taxon = Cycnia tenera

| authority = (Hübner, 1818)

| synonyms =

Hypercombe ternera Hubner, 1808
Tanada antica Walker, 1856
Arctia sciurus Boisduval, 1869
Euchaetes yosemitae H. Edwards, 1883

}}

Cycnia tenera, the dogbane tiger moth or delicate cycnia, is a moth in the family Erebidae. It occurs throughout North America, from southern British Columbia to Nova Scotia southwards to Arizona and Florida. The species is distasteful and there is evidence that it emits aposematic ultrasound signals; these may also jam bat echolocation, as the functions are not mutually exclusive.

Ecology

It is a common feeder on Apocynum cannabinum (dogbane, Indian hemp) which produces a milky latex containing cardenolides, toxic cardiac glycoside that defend against herbivores.{{cite journal |author=James A. Cohen & Lincoln P. Brower |year=1983 |title=Cardenolide sequestration by the dogbane tiger moth |journal=Journal of Chemical Ecology |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=521–531 |doi=10.1007/BF00990224|pmid=24407459 |s2cid=36601146 }} It also feeds on milkweed species, Asclepias, at least in parts of its range, but is most commonly reported from dogbane. Its interactions with bats have been much studied, but are an area of dispute regarding whether the clicks emitted by adult moths are disruptive of bat echolocation, or merely aposematic warning signals. The two functions are not mutually exclusive, however, so it may not be possible to resolve the issue. The moth's coloration appears to be aposematic for insectivorous birds. Chemical signals do not prevent bats from attacking, but do cause bats to release C. tenera they have caught.{{cite journal | doi=10.1073/pnas.0703627104 | title=Acoustic mimicry in a predator prey interaction | year=2007 | last1=Barber | first1=J. R. | last2=Conner | first2=W. E. | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume=104 | issue=22 | pages=9331–9334 | pmid=17517637 | pmc=1890494 |bibcode=2007PNAS..104.9331B | doi-access=free }}

Life cycle

Image:Cycnia.JPG

This moth has several generations per year through much of its range, so caterpillars may be found from June to November.{{cite book |author=David L. Wagner |year=2005 |title=Caterpillars of Eastern North America: a Guide to Identification and Natural History |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-12144-4}}

Eggs are laid in clutches of 50–100. Larvae are reported to feed in aggregations of five to seven, at least in the early instars. Caterpillars are covered all over in soft grey to whitish hairs. Larvae feed at night.

Image:CycniaCocoon.JPG

The cocoon is grayish and covered in hairs from the caterpillar's body.

Adults have white wings with a buttery yellow margin along the front of the forewing; the legs are black. The underside of the forewing may have a dusting of black. The body is yellow with a row of black spots. The wingspan is {{convert|30|-|40|mm}}.

Ultrasound calls

Bats refuse to eat either muted or intact moths of C. tenera.{{cite journal |author=John M. Ratcliffe & James H. Fullard |year=2005 |title=The adaptive function of tiger moth clicks against echolocating bats: an experimental and synthetic approach |journal=Journal of Experimental Biology |volume=208 |issue=24 |pages=4689–4698 |pmid=16326950 |doi=10.1242/jeb.01927 |doi-access=free }} Hawking bats, that is, those seeking moths in flight, attacked intact, clicking C. tenera less frequently than surgically muted (with tymbal organs destroyed) moths in experiments. Intact moths emitted calls when the hunting bats switched from search phase calls to approach phase calls.{{cite journal |author=James H. Fullard, James A. Simmons & Prestor A. Saillant |year=1994 |title=Jamming bat echolocation: the dogbane tiger moth times its clicks to the terminal attack calls of the big brown bat Eptesicus fuscus |journal=Journal of Experimental Biology |volume=194 |pages=285–298 |doi=10.1242/jeb.194.1.285 |pmid=7964403 |url=http://jeb.biologists.org/content/194/1/285.full.pdf |doi-access=free }} In gleaning attacks, when bats attack moths perched on surfaces, bats use a different frequency of sound that these moths cannot hear,{{cite journal |author=James H. Fullard |year=1979 |title=Behavioral analyses of auditory sensitivity in Cycnia tenera (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) |journal=Journal of Comparative Physiology |volume=129 |issue=1 |pages=79–83 |doi=10.1007/BF00679914|s2cid=9193371 }} and the moths do not respond until actually handled by bats. Then clicking moths were dropped more frequently than mute moths.

In a set of experiments using bats that had never been exposed to moths before, Hristov and Conner found the clicking signals helped the bats to learn which moths are distasteful, and so to avoid them.{{cite journal |author=Nickolay I. Hristov & William E. Conner |year=2005 |title=Sound strategy: acoustic aposematism in the bat–tiger moth arms race |journal=Naturwissenschaften |volume=92 |issue=4 |pages=164–169 |pmid=15772807 |doi=10.1007/s00114-005-0611-7|bibcode=2005NW.....92..164H |s2cid=18306198 }} They did not rule out a jamming function for the calls, however, and Ratcliffe and Fullard noted 20% of these native bats aborted attacks on the moth.

The calls are additionally used by male moths to signal to female moths.{{cite journal |author=W. E. Conner |year=1987 |title=Ultrasound: its role in the courtship of the arctiid moth, Cycnia tenera |journal=Experientia |volume=43 |issue=9 |pages=1029–1031 |doi=10.1007/BF01952230|s2cid=43693222 }} Like many Arctiinae, C. tenera flies all day and night, though preferentially some time after dusk. Its sense of hearing, on the other hand, is only moderately well-developed. Thus, the calls of Cycnia tenera have more of a defensive than a social function, and the aposematic role is likely to be significant.{{cite journal|author=James H. Fullard & Nadia Napoleone |year=2001 |title=Diel flight periodicity and the evolution of auditory defences in the Macrolepidoptera |journal=Animal Behaviour |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=349–368 |doi=10.1006/anbe.2001.1753 |s2cid=53182157 |url=http://www.erin.utoronto.ca/~w3full/reprints/FullNapolDielAB.pdf |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070615060834/http://www.erin.utoronto.ca/~w3full/reprints/FullNapolDielAB.pdf |archivedate=2007-06-15 }}