A Moth with "Feathers" for Wings. / by Chris Maynard

Top: the moth genus Alucidae or many feathered moth. Bottom: the genus Pterophorus or white-plumed moth.

A lot of research has focused on how fethers accomplish flight for birds. It would be an interesting school project to learn how these “feathers” help a moth to fly. Some questions I would ask is how do these feather-type wings differ from the flat-wings of most moths in flight? How are these feather-type wings similar and how are they different from bird’s feathers? And how do bird feathers assist flight compared to how these moth “feathers” help the moth fly. Perhaps some background research into how insects and birds use their muscles to fly would be helpful because the larger birds and smaller insects use their muscles very differently to achieve flight.

In science circles it is called convergent evolution when similar things evolve separately in different creatures such as these feather—looking wings on the moths.