For example, entomologists suspect the highly elusive Fabulous Green Sphinx Moth of Kaua'i, Hawaii is gone, leaving the critically endangered vulcan palm with no natural pollinators. Once a species is extinct, its co-dependent plants will likely disappear too. Like all pollinators, hawk moths are threatened by climate change, invasive species and pesticides. This hawk moth, the Sphinx coloradus, is one of the oldest hawk moth specimens in the National Museum of Natural History’s Lepidoptera collection. “When you collect any type of specimen, especially entomology specimens, you can track diversity and population dynamics over time.” When people study the specimens, they unlock this dark data,” said Jessica Bird, the collections information manager for the Entomology department at the museum. In fact, the museum has several specimens out currently on loans for scientific research. The collection contains moths from as far back as 1895, allowing entomologists and botanists to study the relationship between insect and plant in different decades. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History has the second largest hawk moth collection in the world. “We can take these hawk moth specimens from the 1900s and see what plants they were visiting in their communities when they were alive and around,” said Smith. They can potentially use this pollen data to chart how native, endangered plant populations have decreased overtime. “If the moths continue to focus on certain plants, they can actually maintain connections between these very fragmented populations.” Smith plans to use the museum’s collection for his research on the moth’s flight paths.īy studying pollen stored on hawk moths’ proboscises, scientists can create a snapshot of where each moth has been. Gordon Smith, an entomologist at the University of California, Riverside. “The populations of these plants are getting more fragmented,” said Dr. The Puerto Rican higo chumbo cactus is an endangered species that relies on hawk moth pollination. The moths also pollinate the spiky Egger’s century plant, an imperiled species of agave that survives in small, scattered populations on St. Because they’re sturdy and large, hawk moths can fly long distances and across island chains, making them perfect for the higo chumbo cactus. To survive, it needs pollinators that can fly across the ocean. For example, the red-flowering Puerto Rican higo chumbo cactus lives on three small islands off the coast of Puerto Rico. They suffer from deforestation and tourism.

Many plants that hawk moths feed on are endangered. The relationship increases the plant’s chances of successful pollination. Meanwhile, the plant wins because its pollinators are likely to visit the same kinds of plants when they make their next feeding stops. These moth species win because moths with shorter proboscises can’t access the flowers’ nectar, said Robbins. Robert Robbins, the Smithsonian’s curator of Lepidoptera, plants with long flowers favor hawk moths with similarly long tongue-like proboscises. Some plants and hawkmoths evolved to prefer each other. Without hawk moths, these plants will disappear, permanently changing diverse and unique habitats. But, the moths are vital for the survival of many native plants. Hawk moths don’t pollinate food crops, making them less popular than insects that help the farming industry. Species that evolve together stay together By using the museum's huge Lepidoptera collection, entomologists can learn about how this underdog pollinator sustains countless populations of plants around the world.

That pollen can then be spread to flowers farther than 18 miles away as the moth travels along its feeding route.Īt the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, there are over 25,000 specimens of hawk moths which are closely related to butterflies. When a hawk moth drinks from a flower, its proboscis picks up pollen. Hawk moths are known for their ability to travel incredible distances and for their extremely long proboscises - straw-like tongues from which they guzzle nectar. (Smithsonian)īees and butterflies are famous pollinators, but there’s another insect who deserves its share of the spotlight this Pollinator Week. There are over 1450 species of hawk moths in total on Earth. The National Museum of Natural History’s Lepidoptera collection holds up to half of the world's species of hawk moths, important pollinators for many wild ecosystems.

Pellucid hawk moth on tomatoes