Eyespots on the wings of butterflies and moths (such as the emperor moth, pictured) are thought to scare predators such as woodland birds. Alternatively, the spots may deflect attention away from the central part of the insects' bodies. But when researchers made model moths and distributed them around Madingley Woods near Cambridge, UK, some of the fake moths with eyespots attracted more predators than those without.
Martin Stevens and his colleagues at the University of Cambridge pinned greyscale paper 'moths' with dark, light or no eyespots on their wings to ash and oak trees. The wings were either obvious shades of grey or the same shade as the bark behind them, and were placed over a dead mealworm to provide a reward for predators.
Eyespots proved costly to those targets that were otherwise well-camouflaged, which suggests that eyespots may evolve more easily in already conspicuous species. The markings were previously thought to be merely less advantageous — not costly — in suboptimal circumstances.
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Zoology: Spotted!. Nature 453, 1146 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/4531146a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/4531146a
