Back with yet another strange animal that will hopefully blow your mind 🤯
This time we have a moth exhibiting one of the craziest types of mimicry I have ever seen!
A moth that mimics..jumping spiders! From an anatomical perspective it sounds almost impossible but it does pull it of!
Meet the Choreutidae, commonly known as metalmark moths, a family of small moths, many of which feature eye like marks on their wings that somewhat make 'em look like jumping spiders:
Ha! Close enough!
But what is in my opinion even more impressive is how these moths have evolved to mimic the jerky moves of jumping spiders!
It's sounds crazy but it's true:
Another one
This is an example of predator mimicry, which is when the "victim" tries to mimic the predator in hopes of increasing its chances of survival...
But does it really work? And if yes, to what extent?
Well, theoretically the answer is probably yes, after all the chances of such a unique trait coming up just by chance (instead of evolutionary pressure) is close to zero..
Still, this paper from 2006 examining these moths gives some more definitive and thorough answers. Here are some quick finds if you are too lazy to click the link above:
As in our previous study, Brenthia had much higher survival rates when compared to controls: out of 77 Brenthia moths, only 5 were caught, whereas 43 of 69 controls were killed
More interestingly, in this set of trials many jumping spiders engaged in territorial displays after encountering a Brenthia; no spiders displayed to control moths
In several trials, spiders even backed away from the mimics, demonstrating that many Brenthia are perceived as salticids – their ploy of donning wolf's clothing proves successful
Sounds like their mimicry does wonders! Maybe not so much to the human eye, but their natural predators seem to have a hard time making them out!
Ahhh, good ol nature. Never stops being fascinating!