How luna moths grow extravagant wings

Warm temperatures, not just predator pressure, may favor long, bat-fooling streamers

A green luna moth perches on a wooden fence.

Long, skinny streamers on the hind wings of luna moths tend to evolve in certain climate conditions, a new study shows.

Keith Ramos/USFWS

For the first time, biologists have linked the ribbony “tails” streaming from big, green luna moths’ hind wings with, of all things, a cozy climate.

Those dangling wing tails rank among such evolution-was-drunk novelties as the narwhal’s single unicorn tusk or the peacock’s giant feather train.