typhlonectes:

Secret of “Death” Moth’s Scary Squeak Revealed

The ominous insect, immortalized in The Silence of the Lambs, has rapid, accordion-like mouthparts that allow it to make sound, a new study says.

by James Owen

Immortalized in the horror movie The Silence of the Lambs and in folklore as a night-flying harbinger of doom, the death’s head hawk moth has a ghoulish reputation.

Truth be told, though, its most shocking feature is a funny squeak.

Many insects make noise by rubbing together external body parts like wings and legs. But internally produced insect sounds are much rarer, and squeaky noises are known only in some hawk moths.

How death’s head moths, named for a skull-and-crossbones pattern on their heads, make such a sound has long been a puzzle.

Now, after recording the moth’s internal sound system in action for the first time, scientists have an answer: A two-part, accordion-like system whose rapid movements produce sound…

(read more: National Geographic)

photograph by BLICKWINKEL, ALAMY