Hawkmoths Evolve Ultrasound to Jam Bat Sonar
Researchers found that some hawkmoths rasp genital scales to produce ultrasonic clicks that can disrupt predator sonar.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Botany
Some hawkmoths produce ultrasonic clicks by rasping specialized scales on their sex organs against structures on their abdomens, a defense that can disrupt the sonar of predatory bats. Researchers testing 143 hawkmoth species found that 77 produced ultrasound, and the study was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Why it matters
The findings show that a sound-based defense against bats has arisen repeatedly across hawkmoth lineages rather than appearing once. They also suggest that the ability to produce ultrasound can be lost when moths shift to twilight or daytime activity.
Of 143 hawkmoth species tested, 77 produced ultrasound, which the researchers linked to genitalia-enabled sound production that evolved independently at least four and as many as seven times. The extraction does not report how effective these clicks are at disrupting bat sonar in any given species.
The players
Proceedings of the Royal Society B
A peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Royal Society, the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences.
The details
Moths produce the sound by rubbing enlarged, football-shaped scales on the male genital valves against a row of corresponding scales near the rear of the abdomen, and researchers also identified a previously unknown bumpy surface on the underside used in sound production. Hawkmoths produce ultrasound in three distinct ways, and several lineages that shifted to twilight or daytime activity lost this machinery.
Timeline
Genitalia-enabled ultrasound production evolved independently in hawkmoths roughly 5 million to 30 million years ago.
The study findings were published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B on November 4, 2026.
The Big Picture
This discovery extends the long-studied acoustic arms race between bats and moths, showing that ultrasound-based jamming evolved repeatedly within a single moth family rather than once. It suggests that the ability to produce such sounds is a flexible evolutionary trait that can be gained and lost as moth behavior changes.
The findings could shape how scientists study the sensory defenses of insects and how they track predator-prey interactions over long timescales. Any practical applications remain speculative and are not addressed in the extraction.
The takeaway
Insect defenses can evolve repeatedly and can also be lost when behavior changes, so a trait seen in one species may have arisen many separate times across a family. Observers of animal behavior should expect such traits to appear and disappear as ecological conditions shift.
Further reading
For more on the plant and animal evolution behind findings like this, explore Botany.
