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Do moths make a buzzing sound?

Updated: 8/10/2023
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9y ago

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Yes, most insects can hear. Insects use sounds to communicate with other insects, and to navigate their environment. Some even listen to the sounds of predators in order to avoid being eaten. Sound is produced by vibration, and insects hear by collecting and interpreting the vibrations in their environment. There are four types of insect auditory organs.

Most hearing insects have a pair of tympanal organs. Think of a tympani, the large drum used in the percussion section of an orchestra. Like the tympani, the tympanal organ consists of a membrane stretched on a frame, over an air-filled cavity. When the percussionist hammers on the membrane of the tympani, it vibrates and produces a sound. The insect's tympanal organ vibrates as it catches sound waves in the air. The insect also has a special receptor called the chordotonal organ, which senses this vibration of the tympanal organ, and translates the sound into a nerve impulse. Insects that use tympanal organs to hear include grasshoppers and crickets, cicadas, and some butterflies and moths.

For many insects, a receptor on the antennae called the Johnston's organ collects auditory information. Sensory cells on the pedicel, which is the second segment from the base of the antennae, detect vibration of the segment(s) above. Mosquitoes and fruit flies hear using the Johnston's organ.

The larvae of Lepidoptera and Orthoptera use small hairs, called setae, to gather the vibrations of sound. Caterpillars often respond to such sounds by exhibiting defensive behaviors. Some will stop moving completely, while others may contract their muscles and rear up in a fighting posture.

A structure in the mouths of certain hawkmoths enables them to hear ultrasonic sounds, such as those produced by echolocating bats. The labral pilifer, a tiny hair-like organ, is believed to sense vibrations at specific frequencies. Scientists note a distinctive movement of the insect's tongue when they subject the captive hawkmoths to those sounds. In flight, the hawkmoths can avoid a pursuing bat by listening for these frequencies.

(from insects.about.com)

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13y ago
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11y ago

Many insects can hear sounds but they do not hear in the same way as you or I. Cicadas have their hearing organs in their stomachs. Crickets have their hearing organs in their knees. Male mosquitoes hear with thousands of tiny hairs growing on their antennae.

Most insect do have ears. These "ears" are not ears as we know ears, but are the ear "drums" that sit on the surface of the body. There is no hole or ear flap as you are familiar with.

In many insects, the ability to hear is quit acute, because they need it to find a mate, like in Crickets, Cicadas, Katydids, Grasshoppers, etc. Next time you are spending a pleasant summer evening on your porch listening to the crickets chirping, remember they are not doing it for you, they are making this sound to attract a mate.

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9y ago

Yes, some moths make a buzzing sound. Many people think that all moths are silent, but there are some types that make humming, vibrating, or buzzing sounds like the "lawn moth," or sod webworm.

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15y ago

they have ears on their abdomens which are called tympanas. but these ears only recognize the sounds of other cicadas

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14y ago

Yes, otherways what would be the point of them making a noise, singing and calling to each other?

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13y ago

Not all moths are silent, so some moths do make noise like the Dogbane Tiger Moth.

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13y ago

through hairs on their body

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8y ago

Yes. They have eyes.

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13y ago

Butterflies are Deaf.

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