01204nas a2200097   4500008004100000245009500041210006900136520083300205100002401038856004401062       1978                        eng d00aResonant wing systems in the Australian whistling moth Hecatesia (Agarasidae, Lepidoptera)0 aResonant wing systems in the Australian whistling moth Hecatesia3 a<p>DARWIN described the sound made by the forewings of the nymphalid Ageronia feronia as a click of a spring catch on a toothed wheel. Descriptions of the sounds produced by the Agarasidae, which have similarly modified forewings, have repeatedly invoked the rubbing of either the antennae or foretibia on the ribbed forewing2,3. Nicholson4 suggested that the production of sound in the whistling moth Hecatesia was percussive, with the knobs of each forewing (castanets) striking each other at the top of the flight stroke. I have confirmed the existence of such a percussive system in two species of Hecatesia. Recordings of H. exultans Walker and H. thyridion Feisthamel from the coastal sand plain of Western Australia revealed two patterns of sound corresponding to the respective flight behaviour of the two species.</p>
1 aBailey, Winston, J.  uhttp://www.nature.com/articles/272444a0