This dead leaf butterfly has a dazzling secret
WHEN IT COMES to camouflage versus extravagance, this unique little insect doesn’t have to choose – it’s got the best of both worlds.
When its wings are closed, the species looks exactly like a dried autumn leaf, giving it the cleverest camouflage a butterfly could want. But when its wings are open, it reveals a luminous colour pattern that can hold its own against the world’s prettiest wings.
Also known as the orange oakleaf butterfly (Kallima inachus), it hails from Tropical Asia, ranging from India to Japan. Closer to home, you can find it in South East Asia, including in Laos, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Thailand.
The brilliance of the dead leaf butterfly’s disguise is the fact that it hasn’t just nailed the colouring of a dead leaf, it’s got the shape, the midrib, and even the veins figured out, and it all comes together so perfectly, it puts this leaflike katydid to shame.And what’s especially cool about it is it even changes its look with the seasons.
Thanks to a phenomenon known as polyphenism, which describes how distinct characteristics or traits can arise in a single species under different environmental conditions, the dead leaf butterfly has specific dry-season and wet-season forms.
Not only do these forms differ in colouration and size, but the wet-season form tends to be smaller than the dry-season form.
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25 August 2022
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