’Creatonotos Gangis’ Insect With Hairy Tentacles Is Apparently Just A Moth

You might well have seen it on social media - a weird red-bodied, insect-like creature that, depending on which end you are looking from, either looks like a moth overtaking a centipede or vice a little bit of caterpillar thrown in. Let’s be honest, with its pulsating back “legs”, the critter is enough to give anyone who already has a fear of creepy crawlies the complete heebie-jeebies. Even worse, you can find it in Australia. The moth’s characteristic that really turns heads are those massive furry things streaking away from the Creatonotos’ abdomen; those dangly organs are its scent organs, called coremata. The coremata (or hair-pencils) produce the pheromone hydroxydanaidal to attract their mates. Gangis is known for wreaking havoc on pomegranate trees and produces pheromones to try and attract mates. It apparently particularly likes to feed on plants that are high in pyrrolizidine alkaloids (bitter tasting, potentially toxic and thereby not fancied by other feeders) because it helps h