ceci n'est pas un snake

[theweaselking]

No really, this is a pupa for a Dynastor darius butterfly.

Comments

[ashbet]

That is REALLY effective mimicry!!

Clever pupa... :)

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

rather impressive :)

[frith]

That's one hell of a pupa. It must be _very_ tasty.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Or very worried about BEING tasty.

[frith]

That would be a mate selection consideration. For that to work, these butterflies would have to choose their mates while they were still pupae. Thus, predation is the most likely selection pressure to have weeded out the pupae that don't look snake-like. It could also be that the pupae were always getting stepped on and gished by some critter that avoids stepping on snakes. Or maybe the pupae are protected by snake-worshiping ants, the soon-to-be-described Formica ursulavernonis ant.