What kind of mouthparts do moths have. Some moth caterpillars dig holes in the ground where they live until they are ready to turn into adult moths. At rest this tubular structure remains coiled beneath the head. Some moths do not feed after emerging from the pupa and have greatly reduced vestigial mouthparts or none at all. A moth possesses a long curled snout known as a proboscis this proboscis acts almost like a sucking tube and is a particular length so as to allow the moth to reach down into deep flowers in order to reach the nectar.
Butterflies and moths have large eyes and one pair of antennae. Both types of lepidoptera are thought to have evolved along with. It uncoils by hydrostatic pressure when the insect feeds. All but a few adult lepidoptera lack mandibles the superfamily known as the mandibulate moths have fully developed mandibles as adults but also have the remaining mouthparts in the form of an elongated sucking tube the proboscis.
The bodies of these insects are soft and covered with fine hairs. Butterflies tend to be longer and skinnier with longer legs and moths shorter and fatter with thicker hair but this is not always true. Butterflies and moths the mandibles have disappeared altogether. A long slender proboscis is formed by the two galea of the maxillae which interlock to enclose a central food canal.
Moths evolved long before butterflies with fossils having been found that may be 190 million years old. Butterflies and moths have mouthparts specialized for probing into a flower and sucking out nectar. This is facilitated by the development of a sucking arrangement from the mouthparts.