Posted by: Sandy Steinman | November 17, 2015

How Butterflies Mimic Dead Leaves

Kallima Butterflies look like dead leaves when their wings are closed. This provides a great disguise that helps the butterflies avoid predators. Their has been a lot of discussion as how the butterflies developed this adaptation.

National Geographic reported that Takao Suzuki,  and a team of researchers at the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences in Ibaraki has documented the mimicry behavior of Kallima butterflies.

The team mapped small, incremental changes to markings on the undersides of Kallima butterflies’ wings over time “to provide the first evidence for the gradual evolution of leaf mimicry,”

Read full story and see photo  at National Geographic of the  butterfly mimicking  a leaf at Mystery Solved? How Butterflies Came to Look Like Dead Leaves.


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