it is about the moth which Charles Darwin predicted after observing the flower of the Madagascan orchid Angraecum sesquipedale in 1862. The specific epithet translates from Latin to “one and a half feet”, referring to the “astonishing length” of the spur of the flower. He believed that a flower with a spur so long would have a pollinator with an equally long proboscis. It was not until 1903 that the pollinator, Xanthopan morgani,was described, some 41 years later.
