Are moths warm-blooded?
ABeing
insects, moths don’t keep their body temperature stable in the same way that warm-blooded (homeothermic) creatures do. But many moths still thermoregulate, heating up their thoraxes before flight. Moth wing muscles don’t work as efficiently when they’re cold, so before it takes off, an individual warms itself by contracting its two sets of flight muscles at the same time. The muscles that flap the wings upwards counteract the downstroke muscle – creating what looks like a shiver, rather than a flap – in a heat-generating process known as ‘wing-whirring’.
A moth’s abdomen remains relatively cool during this pre-flight warm-up. So, when it takes off and its thorax heats up further (to as much as 40˚C for some hawkmoths), it may shunt warm haemolymph – the moth equivalent of blood – to this colder area. That said, some moth species fly in near-freezing conditions, with their bodies only a little warmer than surrounding temperatures.