Warning coloration can be disruptive: aposematic marginal wing patterning in the wood tiger moth.

ABSTRACT: Warning (aposematic) and cryptic colorations appear to be mutually incompatible because the primary function of the former is to increase detectability, whereas the function of the latter is to decrease it. Disruptive coloration is a type of crypsis in which the color pattern breaks up the outline of the prey, thus hindering its detection. This delusion can work even when the prey's pattern elements are highly contrasting; thus, it is possible for an animal's coloration to combine both warning and disruptive functions. The coloration of the wood tiger moth (Parasemia plantaginis) is such that the moth is conspicuous when it rests on vegetation, but when it feigns death and drops to the grass- and litter-covered ground, it is hard to detect. This death-feigning behavior therefore immediatel

SUBMITTER: Honma A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4662304 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature