Butterfly That Looks Like Owl

Members of castor-footed butterfly genus Caligo

Owl butterflies

Caligo martia, underside
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Guild:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Tribe:	Brassolini
Genus:	Caligo Hübner, [1819]
Type species
Caligo eurilochus Cramer, 1775
Multifariousness
Some 20 species
Synonyms
Hamadryas Mikan, 1821 (non Hübner, 1804: preoccupied) Aerodes Billberg, 1820 Pavonia Godart, [1824]

The owl collywobbles are species of the genus Caligo and are known for their huge eyespots, which resemble owls' eyes. They are institute in the rainforests and secondary forests of United mexican states, Central and South America.

Owl butterflies are very large, 65–200 mm (two.6–7.ix in), and fly only a few meters at a fourth dimension, and then avian predators have niggling difficulty in post-obit them to their settling place. Nevertheless, the collywobbles preferentially wing in dusk, when few avian predators are effectually.^[1] The Latin name may possibly refer to their active periods; caligo means darkness.

Some owl butterflies form leks in mating behavior.^[2]

Species [edit]

Listed alphabetically within groups:^[3]

In that location are some twenty species in this genus, which tin can exist divided into six groups that might constitute subgenera. Some species are of uncertain placement with regard to these groups, however:

C. eurilochus species group
- Caligo bellerophon Stichel, 1903
- Caligo brasiliensis (C. Felder, 1862) – Brazilian owl, almond-eyed owl^[4]
- Caligo eurilochus (Cramer, [1775]) – forest giant owl
- Caligo idomeneus (Linnaeus, 1758) – Idomeneus giant owl
- Caligo illioneus (Cramer, [1775]) – Illioneus behemothic owl
- Caligo memnon (C. & R. Felder, [1867]) – giant owl, stake owl
- Caligo prometheus (Kollar, 1850)
- Caligo suzanna (Deyrolle, 1872)
- Caligo telamonius (C. & R. Felder, 1862) – yellow-fronted owl^[4]
- Caligo teucer (Linnaeus, 1758) – Teucer behemothic owl
C. arisbe species group:
- Caligo arisbe Hübner, [1822]
- Caligo martia (Godart, [1824])
- Caligo oberthurii (Deyrolle, 1872)
C. atreus species group:
- Caligo atreus (Kollar, 1850) – yellow-edged behemothic owl
- Caligo uranus Herrich-Schäffer, 1850 – yellow-bordered owl^[4]
C. oileus species grouping
- Caligo oedipus Stichel, 1903 – boomerang owl^[4]
- Caligo oileus C. & R. Felder, 1861 – Oileus giant owl
- Caligo placidianus Staudinger, 1887 – placid giant owl
- Caligo zeuxippus Druce, 1902
C. beltrao species group
- Caligo beltrao (Illiger, 1801) – regal owl
incertae sedis
- Caligo euphorbus (C. & R. Felder, 1862) – Euphorbus giant owl
- Caligo superbus Staudinger, 1887

Caligo telamonius
in Costa Rica

Functions of the wing design [edit]

Close-upwardly of a Caligo fly

The underwing pattern is highly cryptic. It is conceivable that the eye pattern is a generalized class of mimicry. Information technology is known that many modest animals hesitate to become near patterns resembling eyes with a calorie-free-colored iris and a big pupil, which matches the appearance of the eyes of many predators that hunt by sight.^[5]

According to the Batesian mimicry theory the pattern on the wings of Caligo resemble the caput of a predator like a lizard or an amphibian. It should deter predators while resting, feeding, mating, or emerging from the pupa.

The role of eyespots equally antipredator mechanisms has been discussed since the 19th century. Several hypotheses are suggested to explain their occurrence.^[6] In some collywobbles, particularly Satyrinae (such equally the gatekeeper butterfly and the grayling), information technology has been shown that ocelli (eyespots) serve equally a decoy, diverting bird attack away from the vulnerable trunk, and towards the outer office of the hindwings or the forewing tip.

Inquiry of Stevens et al. (2008), however, suggests that eyespots are non a form of mimicry and exercise not deter predators because they look similar eyes. Rather the conspicuous dissimilarity in the patterns on the wings deter predators.^[7] In this study, even so, the influence of surrounding forms, like the head region of a predator, was not tested. Also the question why animals evolved such circuitous imitations of other species is left unanswered.

References [edit]

^ André V. 50. Freitas; Woodruff W. Benson; Onildo J. Marini-Filho; Roberta K. de Carvalho (1995). "Territoriality by the dawn's early light: The neotropical owl butterfly Caligo idomenaeus (Nymphalidae: Brassolinae)" (PDF). Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera. 34 (i–4): 14–twenty. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2009-10-xv .
^ Robert B. Srygley & Carla M. Penz (1999). "Lekking in neotropical owl butterflies, Caligo illioneus and C. oileus (Lepidoptera: Brassolinae)". Periodical of Insect Beliefs. 12 (1): 81–103. doi:10.1023/A:1020981215501. S2CID 30918158.
^ "Caligo Hübner, [1819]" at Markku Savela'southward Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Glassberg, J. (2007). A Swift Guide to the Butterflies of Mexico and Central America. Sunstreak Books. p.132.
^ Sebastiano De Bona, Janne K. Valkonen, Andrés López-Sepulcre, Johanna Mappes (2015). "Predator mimicry, not conspicuousness, explains the efficacy of butterfly eyespots". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 282 (1806): 20150202. doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.0202. PMC4426626. PMID 25854889. {{cite periodical}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors listing (link)
^ Martin Stevens (2005). "The office of eyespots as anti-predator mechanisms, principally demonstrated in the Lepidoptera". Biological Reviews. eighty (four): 573–588. doi:10.1017/S1464793105006810. PMID 16221330. S2CID 24868603.
^ Martin Stevens, Chloe J. Hardman & Claire L. Stubbins (2008). "Conspicuousness, not centre mimicry, makes "eyespots" constructive antipredator signals". Behavioral Environmental. xix (3): 525–531. doi:10.1093/beheco/arm162.