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Amazing Larvae
Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 7:31 am
by Mark Tutton
Came across this amazing moth larvae on Twitter that mimics a tree snake as a defensive strategy.
The south American Hemeroplanes is a member of Sphingidae and is capable of expanding its anterior body segments to give it the appearance of a snake, complete with eye patches. This snake mimicry extends even to the point where it will harmlessly strike at potential predators!
https://t.co/PjQcgv0BcL
The wonder of natural selection at its extreme
Mark
Re: Amazing Larvae
Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 9:45 am
by Jack Harrison
Utterly amazing. But the adult moth isn't all that unusual:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hemer ... us_sjh.JPG
Jack
Re: Amazing Larvae
Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 9:50 am
by Padfield
Truly remarkable. How many trillions upon trillions of prototypes must have been gobbled up by predators to fine tune this to such an amazing degree!
Guy
Re: Amazing Larvae
Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 12:16 pm
by Tony Moore
Unless the Creationists are right....
Tony M.
Re: Amazing Larvae
Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 1:40 pm
by Charles Nicol
utterly amazing. there must some further layer of action to produce these amazing mimicries, not just random mutations being selected by reproductive success.
Re: Amazing Larvae
Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 7:14 pm
by David M
That's almost supernatural!
Re: Amazing Larvae
Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 10:02 pm
by Nigel P
I can only repeat what's already been said. Amazing!!
Thanks for posting this.
N
Re: Amazing Larvae
Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2014 9:43 am
by Padfield
Our own elephant hawk moth shows the same basic pattern:
http://www.ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=4183. It has the eyes, the swollen 'head' and the reptilian skin.
Presumably, the prevalence of deadly, venomous snakes in the jungles of Peru makes resembling one a paricularly powerful deterrent, increasing selection pressure towards this design.
Guy
Re: Amazing Larvae
Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 9:59 pm
by Matsukaze
I remember you posting a video of a Glanville Fritillary larva apparently lashing out like a tiny snake, the effect emphasised by the red eyes on the caterpillar resembling those of an adder (if only very vaguely).
S American caterpillar amazing mimicry video
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2014 9:50 am
by Alastair Rae
I saw this video of a
Hemeroplanes caterpillar from Peru and wanted to share it. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxEDmXT ... e=youtu.be
Re: S American caterpillar amazing mimicry video
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2014 10:04 am
by Padfield
Thanks Alistair - it's an amazing video.
Mimicry in nature, mimicry (accidental) on the forums - quite coincidentally, Mark Tutton posted the same thing a couple of weeks back
:
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=8095
Guy
Re: S American caterpillar amazing mimicry video
Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2014 1:53 pm
by Charles Nicol
that was an amazing video !
i was wondering whether humans are mimicking anything ?
Re: S American caterpillar amazing mimicry video
Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2014 4:54 pm
by Jack Harrison
Charles:
...was wondering whether humans are mimicking anything ?
Well I certainly had some managers who seemed to quite good at mimicking a different species of primate
Jack
EDIT from Vince Massimo (20-12-2014)
I have now taken the liberty of merging these two topics together because they relate to the same thing 
Vince
