In a new contribution, Ugo Diniz and collaborators reveal that tiger moths, often overlooked in pollination research, play a key role as floral visitors. These moths, a highly diverse and abundant group, visit many different plant species, especially those from pioneer plant groups. Even after 40 years of natural forest recovery, tiger moths remain one of the main pollen carriers, and their role becomes stronger in the canopies forest.
Diniz, U. M.; Keller, A.; Brehm, G.; Viteri Lalama, S. F.; Frühholz, K.; Pitz, M.; Windl, J.; Erazo, S.; Burneo, S. F.; Tschapka, M.; Leonhardt, S. D. 2025. The neglected pollinators: settling moths are keystone floral visitors essential to network connectivity and tropical forest recovery. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 292 (2061): 20251981.
Figure. a, The general pollen transport network. b, Tigger moths-plant pollen transfer network, c, relationship between the specialization of the moths and the role as central connectors in the networks (centrality) and c, distribution of centrality and specialization across functional groups of pollinators at the species level.