Hemiceratoides hieroglyphica
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| Hemiceratoides hieroglyphica (Saalmüller, 1891) |
Hemiceratoides hieroglyphica is a moth from Madagascar. It was discovered in 2006 that it frequents sleeping birds at night, and drinks their tears, using a specialized, harpoon-like proboscis. Tear-feeding moths outside of Madagascar (for example Mecistoptera griseifusa in the Hypeninae subfamily) are not directly related to this species, and have evolved dissimilar mechanisms for drinking, and they do not drink from birds, but from large animals like deer or crocodiles.
[edit] References
- Malagasy birds as hosts for eye-frequenting moths. Biology Letters DOI:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0581
- New Scientist: Moths drink the tears of sleeping birds (December 2006)
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