Insect Defenses
Insect Defenses
Insects have found ways to protect themselves from predators. One
of these ways is through their appearance. There are two ways that their
appearance could deter predators. Either through camouflage or through mimicry.
Camouflage helps them to blend into their surroundings. This could be through
their coloration or through how they are patterned. Some insects have a
coloration that matches the environment that they live in. This makes it harder
for their predators to see them.
Other insects take on characteristics that could fool their
predators into thinking that they are dangerous. This is called mimicry. An
example of this would be a butterfly that has similar markings and colors to
another butterfly, but the butterfly that it is mimicking is poisonous to its
predators. This would cause the mimic of the harmful butterfly to not get eaten
as much because its predators have learned to stay away from insects that have
the same characteristics.
Camouflage and mimicry are similar in that they deter predators,
but these defense mechanisms do have one big difference. The purpose of
camouflage is to have their features blend in as much as possible. The purpose
of mimicry is to draw attention to the predators so that they will mistake you
for a different dangerous insect and stay away.
An example of an insect that uses camouflage would be the dead
leaf mantis. They are shaped and colored like dead leaves. Their color is
brown, but it is not a uniform color. They have light and dark brown spots to
look like the rest of the dead leaves that would be on the ground. Their shape
also helps them to blend in with the dead leaves. They have a jagged area on
their back which looks like the edges of a leaf. They are also big in size.
They can be up to 9 cm long. Their camouflage is a useful defense against
predators especially considering how big they are. Usually, the dead leaf
mantis does not move around a lot. They move around the most when they are
threatened by predators. They have two reactions that can happen when
threatened by a predator. They will either run away as fast as they can, or
they will fake their own death.
An example of insects that mimic each other would be the monarch butterfly and the viceroy butterfly. The only plant that monarch butterflies
eat is milkweed. As a result of only feeding on milkweed they are toxic to
anything that eats them. Similarly, the caterpillar forms of the viceroy
butterfly eat willows. This results in predators being less likely to eat them
as well. Both the monarch butterflies and the viceroy butterflies have orange
and black markings. These markings make them look like each other at first
glance. Since they are easy to mistake for each other, predators avoid them
both.
There are two main types of mimicry. One of these types of mimicry
is Batesian. This is where a harmless species mimics a species that is harmful.
This could look like a fly that has the same patterning as a wasp. The other
type of mimicry is Müllerian. This is where multiple species mimic each other.
They do this either through their appearance and coloring or with how they
signal. The example above about monarch butterflies and viceroy butterflies
having similar coloration would be an example of this type of mimicry.
Overall, insects are adaptive to threats. One of the biggest threats that they face would be their predators. To be able to stay alive the insects have made changes that have resulted in camouflage and mimicry which keeps them safe from threats.
References
Dead Leaf Mantis - Deroplatys desiccata: Keeping insects. Keeping Insects | Caring for a praying mantis, butterflies, stick insects and beetles. (2011, March 6). https://www.keepinginsects.com/praying-mantis/species/dead-leaf-mantis/
Insect Mimicry & Camouflage. Lake Metroparks. (2022, August 1). https://www.lakemetroparks.com/along-the-trail/june-2022/insect-mimicry-camouflage/
Lev-Yadun, S. (2018). Müllerian and Batesian mimicry out, Darwinian and Wallacian mimicry in, for rewarding/rewardless flowers. Plant signaling & behavior. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6110362/#:~:text=Batesian%20mimicry%20is%20a%20phenomenon,a%20group%20of%20defended%20species.
Vernimmen, T., & Magazine, K. (2024, February 20). How monarch butterflies evolved to eat a poisonous plant. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-monarch-butterflies-evolved-to-eat-a-poisonous-plant/
Wikimedia Foundation. (2024, May 14). Mimicry. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimicry
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