Ant Moth Bee!: Batesian Mimicry in the Curant Clearwing Moth

Currant Clearwing Moth, Synanthedon tipuliformis

First sights can often be deceiving. The Currant Clearwing Moth (Synanthedon tipuliformis) may not look it, but it is a moth. True, the name is a give-away, but in appearance it superficially has little in common with its lepidopteran cousins. While not quite the “Ant Moth Bee” amalgam of the title (with apologies to Captain Beefheart's Ant Man Bee), it does bear an uncanny resemblance to wasps. Along with other members of the Sesiidae family the wings are clear and scaleless, and much reduced in size when compared to other lepidopterans. As a result the body seems a lot larger but most strikingly of all they bear colourful, banded abdomens (1). 

Currant Clearwing Moth, Synanthedon tipuliformis

S. tipuliformis has therefore evolved a form of Batesian mimicry, when a relatively harmless species (S. tipuliformis) mimics the appearance of a relatively dangerous one (a number fo similarly banded stinging wasps) (2). The resemblance is quite accurate and within a habitat the moth is quite rare when compared to its wasp models, so that it is not often observed.

Currant Clearwing Moth, Synanthedon tipuliformis

S. tipuliformis larvae feed on a variety of soft fruit stems (e.g. black and red currant, gooseberry) and quite destructive, causing significant losses to yields (3). Eurasian in origin, it has now spread to the Americas and Australia. Control of the moth is by the very novel use of baited traps. Synthetic lures of S. tipuliformis sex pheremones attract the moths to traps that capture them for disposal (4).

Currant Clearwing Moth, Synanthedon tipuliformis

References:

1. Resh and Cardé (eds) 2009. Encyclopedia of Insects pp. 576-577
2. Resh and Cardé (eds) 2009. Encyclopedia of Insects pp. 634-635
3. Scözs et al., 1985. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 39 pp. 131-133
4. Suckling et al., 2005. Journal of Chemical Ecology 31pp. 393-406