Darwin's Long-Tongued Madagascar Moth Prediction

In 1862, after examining a Madagascan orchid with an extraordinarily deep nectar spur, Charles Darwin made a bold prediction that a moth with an equally long tongue must exist to reach its nectar. He argued that natural selection would produce such an insect, even though no one had ever seen it. Decades later, scientists identified the hawk moth Xanthopan morganii in Madagascar and eventually documented it feeding from that very orchid, confirming Darwin’s prediction of a long-tongued moth.

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