HONOLULU, Dec. 4, 2025 — Bees, and other pollinator species, are dying. Between pesticides, the climate crisis, and habitat loss, bee colonies are becoming weaker, leaving them more vulnerable to parasites like the greater and lesser wax moths. Vulnerable bees have cascading effects on beekeepers and food security in the apiculture industry.
A team of researchers from the University of Strathclyde and Japan's National Agriculture and Food Research Organization is exploiting the unusual hearing of wax moths to develop a sustainable and efficient pest control technique that does not harm bees.
Lara Díaz García, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Strathclyde, will present her findings Thursday, Dec. 4, at 10:30 a.m. HST as part of the Sixth Joint Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and Acoustical Society of Japan, running Dec. 1-5 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Wax moths take advantage of weakened bee colonies, tunneling through the hive and feeding on the honeycomb and bee eggs. Removing infestations is labor-intensive — beekeepers must remove individual frames affected by the infestation and catch any remaining wax moths with sticky traps.
These moths can hear sounds four octaves higher than a human can, and this ultrasonic hearing helps them avoid becoming tasty bat food and hear male moth calls. They tell these calls apart based on the timing of the signal and the loudness of the sound.
By analyzing which patterns of bat echolocation calls elicited a stronger neural response in the moths, the researchers determined the best ultrasonic deterrent. Because bees have no sense of hearing, this pest control mechanism does not harm them.
"The technique can be adapted to different moth species; it would require some work for tuning to the most sensitive range to their particular hearing, and then targeting that range, but once that initial part is done, the technique should be applicable to any other moth species capable of hearing — which is the majority of them," said Díaz García.
The team also developed a simplified model of the lesser wax moth eardrum, capturing its essential features to explain its directional hearing. They hope to generalize their method for other moth species and to develop a commercial pest control device or acoustic sensors inspired by moth ears.
"Nature is truly impressive and inspiring for technological development," said Díaz García. "It's also great to contribute to a very tangible outcome of very real problems that we're seeing due to the climate crisis."
