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A historical tidbit that demonstrates the predictive power of evolution — in 1862, a botanist sent Charles Darwin a beautiful & rare orchid from Madagascar (Angraecum sesquipedale) with an unusually long spur. "Good Heavens," Darwin wrote, "What insect can suck it?"
Having studied orchid pollination himself, Darwin theorized there must be a pollinator, like a moth, that has co-evolved with this orchid. He wrote: "In Madagascar, there must be moths with probosces capable of extension to a length of between ten and eleven inches".
Alfred Russel Wallace agreed, writing in 1867: "That such a moth exists in Madagascar may be safely predicted; & naturalists who visit that island should search for it with as much confidence as astronomers searched for the planet Neptune,--and they will be equally successful!"
In 1907, twenty years after Darwin's death, the mysterious moth was identified: Morgan's sphinx moth (Xanthopan morganii), native to Southern Africa & Madagascar. As predicted, this moth had the characteristically long tongue Darwin & Wallace envisioned.
More than 130 years later, Wasserthal and colleagues published reports and photographs of the actual pollination process, which played out much like Darwin envisioned.
