Bird Poop Bugs, a Disguise of Disguises

The Swallowtail butterfly's larva has a clever disguise, looking like crap can have its advantages!

This Asian butterfly mimics the appearance of bird droppings during the larval stage to prevent predators from feasting on its juicy goodness. Although during the last phase of larvae it turns green to disguise itself with the leaves that it finds home.

In a new study, Japanese entomologists have found that a single hormone is responsible for turning the color of the caterpillars. hormone levels fall when the caterpillar changes from one guise to the next. This hormone can also change the texture and color pigment pattern making the disguise all the better from one bug to the next.

The study, conducted by Ryo Futahashi and Haruhiko Fujiwara, was released today in the journal Science.

Comments

[Bob]

Very cool, amazing!