Mimicry (Mimicry) is an important subject in biology, subdivided can be divided into many kinds, like we can often hear that a certain animal has a "protective color" or "warning color", these are mimetic phenomena.
Animal mimicry is varied, some can imitate the shape and color of poisonous animals; some can imitate harmless weak animals; some can imitate the local body structure of powerful animals; and some can imitate items with no edible value, including environmental colors and plants.
But whatever the form of mimeticism is, it is for the sake of making animal survival more convenient, confusing the vision of other animals, weak animals to escape predators, and powerful animals to confuse prey, which is the result of long-term evolution and adaptation to the environment.
Dead leaf butterfly Kallima inachus
The "leaf" in the picture above is the famous dead leaf butterfly.
In fact, most of the population of the dead leaf butterfly is a general term, generally refers to those can mimic the yellow leaves of the lepidopteran insects, contains many species, and the above picture is the most "classic" of those insects known as the dead leaf butterfly - the dead leaf butterfly Kallima inachus.
It is worth mentioning that the wings of the dead leaf butterfly only have the color of the dead leaves on the back, that is, the color of the two sides when the wings are erected and closed; and the front of their wings, that is, the dead leaf butterflies look at its back when they spread their wings to the sides of the body, the color is very bright, there is a gradient blue, a bright orange stripe, and there are black edges on both sides of the orange spots, which looks very much like the silhouette of the distant peaks under the sunset, and interested students can look for it.
Gastropacha populifolia
In the picture above is another "dead leaf butterfly", its name is Gastropacha populifolia, which is a species of the leaf moth family. Although both the Yang leaf moth and the dead leaf butterfly are mimic yellow-gray leaves, the mimic performance of the two is still different.
The mimicred leaves of the dead leaf butterfly are "backed" horizontally on the back, the main leaf vein root is at the bottom of the lepid wing, and the leaf tip is in front of the lepid wing; and the leaf moth is imitated by the leaf moth, which is based on the head as the root and the rear end of the lepidium as the leaf tip, and they will also attach the antennae to the back of the head when they fall, coinciding with the main leaf vein, which is quite clever.
In fact, the vast majority of "dead leaf butterfly" mimesis, although very real, but most of them are flat mimic, and some lepidoptera insect mimicry is more visual impact, called naked-eye 3D effect, I selected 5 kinds of separate to explain to you.
First of all, the picture below is the blue ball pattern moth Brahmaea hearseyi, not within the 5 kinds just mentioned, I think its markings are also very handsome, so call it to hold up a scene.
Brahmaea hearseyi
<h1>1. Eudocima salaminia</h1>
First of all, please quickly pronounce its name ten times - the bright leaf nocturnal moth, and if you read it quickly, it sounds like "Yeyeye Moth".
This moth is very common in China, and its mimetic target is also a leaf, but not a flat leaf like a dead leaf butterfly, but a leaf with a curling effect, specifically a flat plant leaf in the middle and rolled inward on both sides.
You can carefully observe the following picture, does it look very three-dimensional?
In fact, the wings of the nocturnal moth are flat, and the three-dimensional effect is formed by the microstructure of the scales on its wings, which is somewhat similar to the previous popular street three-dimensional graffiti, and is more spectacular only in the past when viewed in a specific way.
If you look down from the back, the bright-leaved night moth is no different from the ordinary moth, and the color and shape are like a melon seed.
Eudocima salaminia
<h1>2. Walnut boat moth Uropyia meticulodina</h1>
The Walnut Boat Moth is also a moth that mimics curling leaves, but its mimetic effect is better than that of the Noctuidae moth. The leaf blades of the walnut moth are completely flat and curled up in their entirety (see figure below).
And according to the distribution area and individual differences, the color of the walnut moth will also be different, there are mimetic green leaves, there are also mimicking dry yellow, dark brown leaves.
Still like the bright leaf nocturnal moth, the curling effect of the walnut meizhou moth's mimetic curling is also completely formed by the arrangement of microscopic scale structures on the wings, and if you look at it from another angle, you will find that its wings are completely flat, not really rolled up.
Walnut boat moth Uropyia meticulodina
<h1>3. Paralebeda plagifera of the great brown-spotted leaf moth</h1>
If the mimic leaves of the bright leaf moth are micro-rolled on both sides, and the mimetic leaves of the walnut meizhou moth are curled in pieces, then the imitation of the large brown spotted leaf moth is even further, it looks like a cylindrical dry leaf from the side, that is, the form that falls on the ground and is unattended, and the whole leaf is rolled into a clump after a few months of exposure.
When the large brown-spotted leaf moth falls, it will lay down its forewings, cover its six legs, and then stick its tentacles back to live together.
In this way, even if humans do not pay attention to observation, they cannot distinguish the large brown-spotted dead leaf moth from the real leaves, and the naked-eye 3D effect is appropriate.
The large brown-spotted leaf moth Paralebeda plagifera
<h1>4. Chrysalis of the Dynasty Ring Butterfly Dynastor Darius</h1>
The first three are lepidoptera insects with mimetic leaves, simulated leaves that can make it impossible for predators to distinguish between them and the real leaves around them, and are mimetic into inedible environmental items.
Let's talk about another type of mimesis— the type of mimic that simulates the shape and color of a poisonous animal, the Batesian mimicry.
Among lepidopterans, the Beyn's mimicry is also relatively common, but I think the more outstanding is the Dynasty Ring Butterfly. The larvae and adults of the Dynasty Ring Butterfly have nothing to say, and its most powerful thing is the mimesis of the pupal stage.
As we all know, most of the pupal stages of fully metamorphosed insects are immovable, so the situation in nature is quite dangerous. The chrysalis of the Dynasty Ring Butterfly mimics the head of a venomous snake, and has rounded eyes, a wide cheek (simulating a venomous gland), and a overall shape like a tree viper (head) that raises its head to stare at its prey, which can scare away most inexperienced birds.
Dynasty Ring Butterfly (Chrysalis) Dynastor darius
<h1>5. Larvae of Hemeroplanes triptolemus</h1>
It is an insect of the lepidoptera, moth family, and there is no official name for Chinese, and I have not been able to give it Chinese name.
However, there are satins on the Internet who have given it a name called "Hermorio Pres caterpillar", in fact, this name does not conform to the naming rules at all, just transliterated its genus name Hemeroplanes into Chinese, and the kind of addition is not reflected.
Besides, as an insect of the moth family, it must be named after xx moth or XX moth, "caterpillar" is only the larval form of lepidopteran insects, and cannot be used as an official name, so for this name full of grooves, everyone can have fun.
Back to the point, the larvae of Hemeroplanes triptolemus can also mimic venomous snakes, and the color of the back half of their body is very similar to the first half of the snake, and when stressed, they will bulge the tail end (see picture below), causing the snake's head to swell and shake, frightening enemies.
And everyone carefully observes the following picture, the mimetic snake eyes also have a shiny "eye light", but that is not a lighting effect, but just a white spot. There is no one who can mimic like this, the visual effect is full of scores, compared to the imitation of the dead leaf butterfly can only be said to be the primary level.
Hemeroplanes triptolemus (larvae)