Fun details: Look at the first pair of the hoverfly's legs, how it holds them up and forward. I just saw this on a documentary about mimicry. The leg position mimics the longer antennae of bees & wasps--it's not all color & shape, sometimes it's pose & motion too! That's why arboreal chameleon lizards will "wobble walk", imitating a fluttering leaf, while the ground-dwellers tend to be more about hiding and stillness.
The green caterpillar next to the "poop pile" caterpillars can probably inflate one end of its body to look like the face of a vine snake.
Scary detail: many 'twig caterpillars' are carnivorous. Yup. Carnivorous. Most aren't actually butterfly larvae, though there is a species (Lycaenidae I think) that feeds on ants...while chemically mimicking the ants to avoid being detected, killed, or evicted as the colony cares for it! I believe there's a native species in Hawaii, one of the few left on the island chain after a hundred-year onslaught of everything from rats to chickens, that has hooks for feet and grabs tiny fruit flies that land too close.
It's weird out there. No matter where ya put the pecker
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06-26-2017, 06:53 AM
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