Oxygen Consumption of Moths During Rest, Pre-Flight Warm-Up, and Flight in Relation to Body Size and Wing Morphology

Abstract

Morphometrics and oxygen consumption were studied in about 35 sphingids, 50 saturniids, and 20 other heterothermic moths belonging to various families. For the pooled data of all species the regression of oxygen consumption on mass in grams is described by the following equations: at rest, cm³/h = 0.402 g^0.775; during hovering flight, cm³/h = 59.43^0.818; during warm-up, cm³ = 1.186 g^0.898. Similar equations are presented for the families Saturniidae and Sphingidae. In sphingids and saturniids thoracic mass, wing length, and wing area increased with body mass, whereas wing loading and aspect ratio were independent of body mass. The sphingids had higher wing loading, aspect ratio, and wing beat frequency during flight than the saturniids. Wing beat frequency was more tightly coupled to morphological parameters in sphingids than in saturniids. The allometry of resting and active aerobic metabolism in heterothermic moths is compared with that of reptiles, mammals and birds. The scaling of oxygen consumption during flight in the moths is almost identical to that of bats and birds.