Bees get a lot of attention these days. License plates that say “save the bees” are a dime a dozen on your average Prius. It isn’t without good reason, however. Bees are one of the heavyweight champs when it comes to pollinating fruits, plants, and flowers across the world. No pollination, no plants. No plants, no humans!

Butterflies and bees are famous for their day job!

Bees use the nectar they take to make honey. Humans (and almost every other animal) love honey! Our love of honey may have led us to put bees on a pedestal they may not deserve!

There is another creature that moonlights as a pollinator.

Bees pollinate in the day and we can often see them buzzing around from flower to flower. Did you know that there is a hairy creature that gently pollinates during the night when everyone is asleep? Its the moth!

Moths may deserve the title for “best pollinators” that bees currently hold!

The data is coming in that may just prove that moths are the new heavyweight champion in the pollen department! MNN says:

According to a new study from the University of London College, moths — most often seen malingering under street lamps and porch lights — may be more effective at spreading pollen than their daytime counterparts, bees and butterflies.

What is so special about these moths?

Well, as it turns out, bees are a bit picky when it comes to their food. They prefer only certain plants and flowers to pollinate. Moths, on the other hand, aren’t as choosy!

The research, published this week in Biology Letters, suggests moths maintain a pollen transportation network across the English countryside that may be crucial to crop yields. That may be because while moths visit many of the same plants as bees, they also attend plants that their buzzing brethren pass over. As a result, their work complements that of bees, filling in ecological gaps and ensuring pollen from a diversity of plants is carried far and wide.

Moths add a little diversity to the pollination squad.

While we all love bees and butterflies, moths are a good backup plan to help everything keeps its equilibrium. If the bats get out of hand eating moths, the bees can pick up the slack. If honey production is low and bees die off, moths are there to help!

Nighttime travelers, moths also span larger swaths of land.

Inbreeding isn’t a good thing in the plant world either. When there isn’t enough genetic diversity, bad things start to happen. Since moths are such long-distance flyers, their role in pollination may be to bring greater diversity to the plant genes!

“While bees are excellent pollinators, they will only travel within the local environment of the nest,” that study’s lead author Callum Macgregor explained in a 2018 press release. “Moths appear to complement the work of bees and can carry pollen over greater distances as they don’t have the same ties to a particular part of the landscape. Potentially, this might help to prevent inbreeding among plants.”

Nature is built around equilibrium.

Next time you see a moth, you can say thanks for its help in keeping your flowers so pretty! When you are sleeping at night, moths are taking care of business.

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Source: MNN, Biology Letters