The Greater Wax Moth: this moth has the most sensitive hearing of any animal in the world, with its tiny ears detecting frequencies of up to 300,000Hz
Galleria mellonella, commonly known as the greater wax moth, has the world's highest frequency sensitivity. It can detect frequencies as high as 300,000Hz; just to put that into perspective, humans can detect frequencies of up to 20,000Hz, while dogs can detect up to 65,000Hz, and bats up to 210,000Hz.
According to this article:
Researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow have discovered that the greater wax moth is capable of hearing sound frequencies of up to 300,000 hertz (300kHz) – more than 100 times higher than the whiniest human voice and fifteen times the maximum frequency that can be heard by the sharpest-eared teenagers.
Furthermore, with a lower hearing-register of just 20Hz, the insect also has the widest range of any creature in the animal kingdom.
To put this in context, normal human speech is between a few hundred and 3,000Hz. A typical person’s hearing peaks at about 20,000Hz at around 18, dropping to about 10,000Hz by middle age. Even dolphins, who are known to be comfortable with high pitches, stop hearing at 160,000Hz.
Like many other moths, this species detects sound using a pair of eardrum-like structures known as tympanal organs. These structures, which are often described as "simple ears," allow moths to detect the calls of predatory bats and to communicate with other moths.
The super-sensitive hearing of the greater wax moth likely developed as part of the evolutionary arms race between moths and bats.
As this article explains:
An evolutionary arms race is the process of adaptations and counteradaptations between species. This is very common in predator-prey relationships. The predator and prey species are constantly adapting to outcompete each other. This sometimes leads to extremities in species evolution.
The moth-bat relationship is an example of this. Bats use ultrasounds to locate their prey, moths. As a counteradaptation, moths developed ultrasound hearing capabilities via the process of natural selection. Moths use their hearing to avoid being eaten by bats. Bats in turn started to develop even higher-frequency sounds, and so the arms race goes on.
Galleria mellonella is also known as the "honeycomb moth," because the caterpillars of this species are parasites that infest beehives and then feed on the honeycomb, pollen, and honey within.
The Independent: Insect with Sharpest Hearing in the World Could Revolutionize Technology
BBC: Greater Wax Moth Can Sense Highest Recorded Frequency
Mongabay Conservation News: Common Moth Can Hear Higher Frequencies than Any Other Animal on Earth
Biology Letters: Extremely High Frequency Sensitivity in a "Simple" Ear
European Wilderness Society: Auditory Perception in Moths
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