for National Geographic News A previously unknown population of
vampire moths has been found in Siberia. And in a twist worthy
of a Halloween horror movie, entomologists say the bloodsuckers
may have evolved from a purely fruit-eating species. Only slight
variations in wing patterns distinguish the Russian population
from a widely distributed moth species, Calyptra thalictri, in
central and southern Europe known to feed only on fruit. When
the Russian moths were experimentally offered human hands this
summer, the insects drilled their hook-and-barb-lined tongues
under the skin and sucked blood. Entomologist Jennifer Zaspel at
the University of Florida in Gainesville said the discovery
suggests the moth population could be on an "evolutionary
trajectory" away from other C. thalictri populations. This is
the second population of vampire moths Zaspel and her team have
found. They discovered the first in Russia in 2006. Next
January, she will compare the Russian population's DNA to that
of other populations and o