Tags
Batesian, Bruce Purser, butterflies, Camouflage, grasshoppers, Jungle Bugs, katydids, moths, Mullerian, phasmids, Wasmannian
Jungle Bugs is a book of camouflage and mimicry of jungle butterflies, grasshoppers, katydids, phasmids, moths. There are over 200 photographs taken in the various jungles of the world illustrating the adaptations these insects have made in their hundred million years of struggle to survive being eaten by other insects, lizards, birds and other things. Many of these insects are tasty and nutritious and their survival has been achieved by being invisible to their predators. Some use camouflage; some have gone a different route and mimicked other insects that are capable of defending themselves with weapons or poisons. The insects that developed active aggressive methods of defending themselves typically take on vivid highly contrasting colors, so they may be easily identified by potential predators, and avoided.
All of these adaptations appear to have come into existence through basic natural selection; that is, those who manage to survive are those who have offspring, and the primary selective factor for these design features is not being eaten by predators. These are primarily passive forms of camouflage.
Active camouflage requires some awareness of the environment by the insect, and that is probably a programmed DNA type of learning. When an insect that looks like a particular type of leaf is going to be stationary for a while it will choose a location that it fits. Thus a leaf-like katydid will choose to stand on a plant branch and orient itself so it is arranged in conformity to the plant’s living leaves, or sometimes with dead leaves. Another example is the assassin bugs who choose to glue to themselves fragments of local debris. This would not only make them near invisible, but would also make them unpalatable to eat.
Some butterflies are brilliantly colored while in the air, perhaps to warn birds of potential foul odor and taste, but when they land they fold their colorful wings together and expose only the undersides which are dull and fit the local terrain, and thus they can hide.
On page 78 there is a list of Mimicry types from simple to more complex:
- Partial mimicry: a butterfly whose wing pattern includes a false head and antennae;
- Batesian mimicry: an unprotected moth resembles a dangerous wasp;
- Mullerian mimicry: a dangerous (protected) bug resembles a noxious (protected) ant;
- Wasmannian mimicry: a beetle resembles an ant and is thus able to penetrate an ant colony;
- Vertebrate mimicry: a caterpillar’s head resembles the head of a snake;
- Auto-mimicry: a spider in the center of its web is surrounded by dummies.
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