Sexual behaviour: female swift moth is not the aggressive partner

Observations on three naturally-occurring courtships of Hepialus show that sexual behaviour in these moths is similar to that of butterflies, with the male pursuing the female in flight and mating with her after she alights. Although the female appears to solicit courtship by flying past a hovering male, and although the male becomes flaccid immediately after copulation, it is not true that the female flies directly at the male and knocks him out of the air, as is widely held by moth-collectors.