A few Lepidoptera have been found to sequester chemicals from plants which they retain throughout their life and some members of Erebidae are examples of this phenomenon.
[3] Researchers have collected data that strongly suggests that PAs can be registered by taste receptors of predators, acting as a deterrent from being ingested.
Parsimony suggests that the sequestering of PAs in the larval stage evolved in the subfamily Arctiinae common ancestor.
These findings were in line with prior studies done by Eisner and Meinwald which looked at orb weavers and U. ornatrix, along with spiders being fed beetle larva covered in PAs, which they rejected.
All organisms permitted access to PA-containing diets that were fed to spiders were cut loose from the webs.
Further observations showed that male C. myrodora have a pair of pouches where they produce PA-laden filaments, which are typically released over the female prior to copulation as a nuptial gift.
Male Estigmene acrea moths that consumed PAs in their diet as larvae produced hydroxydanaidal, a volatile PA compound, and displayed their coremata: a bifid, inflatable male-specific organ, used in dispersing pheromones in the adult stage.
Scientists were unsure of why this phenomenon didn't occur in the lab, but laboratory raised larvae were usually reared on commercially available food which lacks PAs.
The authors suggest that the PAs are used by the males to attract other moths by releasing the volatile PA hydroxydanaidal into the air.
It is suggested in this study that this strategy of mate attraction came about by tapping into the PA affinity already programmed into the moths for feeding, which is further supported by the observation that E. acrea females release their pheromones a little bit later in the evening than the males.