Greater Wax Moth Can Hear Highest Sound Frequency

This article ran last week on LiveScience – The Greater Wax moth, a common Pyralid found in North America, Europe and Asia, can hear sounds up to 300 kilohertz – the highest known sound frequency. This is about 100 khz higher than bats can hear and our human ears can hear sounds up to only 20 kHz.

James Windmill, a bioacoustician at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, and his co-authors hypothesize that the moth’s ultrasonic hearing might help it avoid predators.