by LiveScience
Staff
Date: 18 March
2013 Time: 04:36 PM ET
Australian
pygmy moths that are well equipped for courtship are appropriately borrowing
their name from the 18th century Italian philanderer and adventurer
Giacomo Casanova.
Researchers
say they named the newly designated subgenus "Casanovula" (within the
genus Pectinivalva) because these metallic-colored species sport
mustache-like patches that seem to help them lure females by spreading their
scent.
 |
| CREDIT: Landcare Research and |
These patches
— which look like overlapping shells up close — can be found on their front
legs, wings or abdomen and they are thought to help disperse scent from a close
range during courtship of the female.
This picture
shows the male minotaur pygmy moth (Pectinivalva (Casanovula) minotaurus)
showing its bizarre flattened antennae.
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