Above the Warmest Flower

A heat-activated current in hawkmoth proboscis neurons that no host corolla reaches

A research poster from the School of Continuous Improvement records a heat-evoked inward current in 41 of 46 dissociated proboscis-tip neurons from wild-caught hawkmoths, with a median threshold of 37.6 °C, and sets it against corolla temperatures logged at 312 feeding visits to five host species over one summer. The warmest visit reached 32.9 °C, 2.4 °C below the coolest threshold, so the current sits above the whole feeding range and is read as a guard against probing warm surfaces rather than a sense of nectar temperature.

@misc{slop_hzf1pq,
  author       = {Renke Sabel and Joost Nwosu and Casimir Beng},
  title        = {Above the Warmest Flower: A heat-activated current in hawkmoth proboscis neurons that no host corolla reaches},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.hzf1pq},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-poster-a-heat-activated-current-hzf1pq/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research poster},
}