Mating is a big deal in the animal kingdom, especially if you're an animal like a moth. Mating can take eight or nine hours, so the last thing you want is for some predator to interrupt you and your mate in the act. It's not like you can put up a do-not-disturb sign.

Well, in some sense, they can. You see, certain species of male moths use toxins to protect themselves during sex. In fact, during the courtship dance, the male moth releases a derivative of these toxins, which enables the female to choose the moth who can offer her the most protection.

The males aren't born with these toxins, they actually come from plants. The male rattlebox moth gets these toxins in its larval stage, when it eats from the rattlebox plant. The wasp moth, on the other hand, gets them from the poisonous dogfennel plant before the big night. In both cases, the chemicals make the moths so unappealing that spiders have actually been observed cutting them loose from their webs.

That's one handy toxin.

When the moths mate, the male passes the toxins along with his sperm to the female, and the wasp moth actually releases the toxin in a cloud of miniature confetti that sticks to him and the female. The toxin protects them both during mating, and continues to protect the female and the eggs later on. In fact, the rattlebox moth passes enough toxins to the female that she's protected from predators for the rest of her life span, which is about thirty days.

All this makes you wonder what your spouse has done for you lately.

Read more

• How moths hide from bats
• City moths evolve to avoid city lights
• Why moths fly toward lights

Sources

• ScienceDaily - A gift of poison: Moths and safe sex
• ScienceDaily - Moths: A different weapon against each enemy