Saturday 3 August 2019

Apparently,

insects that eat other insects,


that eat bird poop, are not liked, so this moth developed a cunning plan, make itself look like two flies eating bird poop, and it worked! photograph Alexey Yakovlev/Wikimedia Commons, other insects do not eat it, Macrocilix maia, a moth native to Southeastern Asia, takes mimicry to a whole new level by literally painting an entire scene on its wings, and as if this visual representation of flies eating bird droppings wasn’t impressive enough, the moth reportedly also gives off a pungent odour that could be mistaken for actual bird droppings,


above photograph by Insectosaurus, the evolution of Macrocilix maia was most likely random, eons ago, a slight mutation caused a moth to have a pattern that somewhat resembled the clear scene we now associate the whole species with, it proved effective enough to keep predators at bay, so the genes were passed on, then natural selection happened, the moths that suffered mutations toward the flies-feasting-on-droppings pattern were more likely to reproduce, while specimens featuring other motifs didn’t, it was survival of the fittest, and the pattern likely evolved over generations, with the most believable pattern outliving the others. The original patterns was probably nowhere as realistic as it is today, but it evolved over time. This is probably still a work in progress, with slight mutations making the picture even more realistic, how amazing is that?


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