Eye spots of moths and butterflies that are revealed with a sudden flick of the wings are widely accepted as a signal to scare or confuse predators. If you have ever seen the up-side down stance of an Eyed Silkmoth that feels threatened you can easily imagine that a hungry bird might be scared away from this fat clumsy morsel that suddenly resembles a cat or an owl. And maybe the scare even works as a defense against the attack of a lizard?
Antheraea oculea (Western Polyphemus Moth) |
But this isn't where the relationship ends. Evolution has linked insects and reptiles through more than just the food chain.
Papilio rutulus (Western Tiger Swallowtail) caterpillar |
Observe the spots on the bloated body of the Western Swallowtail caterpillar: to my eye they not only distract from the real head that remains tucked down and hidden, they also seems to suggest the face of a snake.
Elephant Hawkmoth, Deilephila elpenor by Amy MacDonald |
When my friend Alex Pelzer was working on his Ph.D. using these moths as his model, we tried to test whether birds are indeed afraid of the snake mimic. At the time, I had a young tame Jackdaw (small corvid). When offered the big writhing worm the bird seemed confused, but then attacked the caterpillar and tried to eat it.
My trusting friend Jakob the Jackdaw |
So instinctive aversion? Not really.
But: the jackdaw was young, hand-raised and inexperienced. Like young wolves, chimpanzees, and humans, the highly social and intelligent corvids are born with very little instinct. Instead, they have a great capacity for learning. In fact, this young bird looked to me for approval of any new food it found, and it would try to eat everything I offered. So he wasn't a good test animal at all, we should have tried something more precocious, like a young chicken. We just all had a lot to learn.
Macacha (Fulgora laternaria) by Leonel Baldoni |
My friend Lois O'Brien is an expert of the group Fulgoromorpha. She writes:
"Fulgora, the lantern fly or peanut bug, has a head that looks like a peanut from above. But from the side, the head looks like an alligator head, complete with false eyes and false nostrils ...and a big mouth full of false teeth."
To humans this planthopper looks so dangerous that there is a widespread legend that its bite kills within 24 h - the only antidote being to have sex before that time runs out. O'Brien speculates whether the 'alligator mimicry' targets birds, reptiles or monkeys, even humans, and wonders about the size difference between model and imitator. As baby alligators are quite small and quite ferocious hunters (and often under the fierce protection of their really terrifying mother), the size difference bothers me less than the difference in habitat between presumed model and mimic. But birds and monkeys get around ... and maybe they are wary enough of alligators to carry the image in their memory wherever they go.
Fulgora laternaria from Cuvier's La Regne Animal |
But if all else fails, Fulgora can still flash two big eye-spots at the attacker as well.
Chrysalis of Dynastor darius stygianus (photo V. Izerskyy) |
We found another unexpected reptile imitator closer to home:
After the black-lighting session of the last 'Infestation Party' at Pat Sullivan's house in Ramsey Canyon, Arizona, there were a lot of entomologists as well as left-over moths still hanging around in the early morning hours. The humans were congregating outside with cups of strong coffee and plates of Schwarzwaelder Kirschtorte (great way to wake up!).
Do you see the snake lurking? |
But - overemphasized detail aside - I had had my morning coffee already! - so to me it was just a sleepy moth, a beautiful Glover's Silkmoth.
Glover's Silkmoth (Hyalophora columbia gloveri) |
Literature: The Wild Wonderful World of Fulgoromorpha, L. O'Brien, Denisia 04, zugleich Kataloge des OOe. Landesmuseums, Neue folge Nr. 176 (2002) pp 83-102
Wonderful pictures as always. I love that first moth. I posted some Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar pictures recently and found them so fascinating close up. The Glover's Silkmoth is beautiful too.
ReplyDeleteNice story! I wish I were teaching classes that involved teaching mimicry concepts (as I used to) -- there are some great examples here.
ReplyDeleteLoved this! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteVery cool! I like the photo of you with the jackdaw! You've had some amazing experiences!
ReplyDelete-Carol