From dusk till dawn: camera traps reveal the diel patterns of flower feeding by hawkmoths

Abstract

1. Diel rhythms of foraging activity by animal flower visitors can reflect niche partitioning and are considered an important component of selection on floral traits. However, it has been notoriously difficult to obtain objective information on the patterns of flower visitation by crepuscular and nocturnal insects.2. Motion‐activated cameras were used for field‐based studies of hawkmoth foraging behaviour on six African plant species.3. The results showed that short‐tongued hawkmoth species forage mainly around dusk and then sporadically throughout the night, whereas long‐tongued hawkmoth species feed consistently throughout the night, with a peak shortly before midnight.4. These results provide the first quantitative estimates of diel patterns of interactions between multiple hawkmoth and plant species and, when combined with qualitative reports from other studies, suggest that differences in diel activity between the two main hawkmoth functional groups (short‐ and long‐tongued) are consistent across the Old and New Worlds.