What makes eyespots intimidating-the importance of pairedness.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Many butterflies possess striking structures called eyespots on their wings, and several studies have sought to understand the selective forces that have shaped their evolution. Work over the last decade has shown that a major function of eyespots is their ability to reduce predation by being intimidating to attacking predators. Two competing hypotheses seek to explain the cause of intimidation, one suggesting 'eye-mimicry' and the other their 'conspicuousness' as the reason. There is an on-going debate about which of these better explains the effectiveness of eyespots against predation. We undertook a series of indoor experiments to understand the relative importance of conspicuousness and eye-mimicry, and therefore how predator perception may have influenced the evolut

SUBMITTER: Mukherjee R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4374370 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature