Hyles lineata Life Stages Predation Data

In this study, we investigated the effect of life stage and time of day on attack rates on the holometabolous white-lined sphinx moth (Hyles lineata). We predicted that sedentary adult moth replicas (hereafter, “moths”) would be subject to higher predation than sedentary larval replicas (hereafter, “caterpillars”) due to morphological differences, independent of behavioral differences between the two life stages. The adult stage of lepidopterans is likely more conspicuous due to wing shape and size, whereas caterpillars are more likely to masquerade as vegetation (e.g., sticks and leaves). We further hy-pothesized that the time of day would affect predation, as lighting conditions affect the visual abilities of predators and thus detection and recognition of lepidopteran prey. We predicted that visually guided attacks (i.e., avian attacks) would occur more during the day than at night, whereas non-visually guided predators (i.e., insects) would attack equally between day and night. Lastly, we anticipated finding different predator compositions between the two life stages and times of day. Birds were predicted to be the main predators of both stages during the day, rodent predators to be the main predators at night, and insect predators to be similarly active between both day and night. We tested our predictions by deploying visually realistic replicas of moths and caterpillars during dawn and dusk in the Chihuahuan Desert and then quantifying attacks for 72 h.
See Sanchez et al 2025. The dangers of growing old: Adult moths face higher predation pressures than caterpillars in Hyles lineata. Insects.