EMPEROR MOTH : FALSE EYES THAT FOOL PREDATORS

image courtesy -  butterfly -conservation.org

The sudden appearance of a huge pair of 'eyes can deceive hungry birds into believing that they have not disturbed a tasty butterfly, but some other, much larger and more dangerous creature. Eyespots occur on the wings of a wide range of insects. Some are simply dark, round blotches, but the more sophisticated L eyespots comprise concentric circles which mimic a real eye's iris andpupil. Thebest eyespots, such as those of the owl butterfly, include small, pale, off-centre patches -just as though light were glinting from the moist surface of a real eye. The zigzag emperor moth has an eccentric pair of 'eyes on its underwings, each with a black 'pupil"' surrounded in concentric rings of orange, pink and brown. The farther apart the two eyespots,the better: widely spaced eyes are indicative of a much bigger animal than those close together. Eyespots often occur on insects that have good camouflage and so can utilize the startle effect: if a predator comes too close, the insect suddenly opens its wings, exposing a pair of terrifying, staring 'eyes.