Sexy or repulsive? Butterfly wings can be both to mates and predators
... as well." Oliver was interested in whether the eyespots on the upperside of butterflies' wings ... different evolutionary models, he found that the eyespots on the upperside of the butterflies' wings appear ... a species can use the same signal in this case, eyespots on different areas of its body to communicate ...Zoologists challenge longstanding theory that 'eyespots' mimic the eyes of predators' enemies
... markings, often referred to as eyespots. Many eyespots are effective in startling or intimidating ... paper. Specific patterns, such as intimidating eyespots of different shapes, sizes and number, and with ... conspicuous features and that the features of eyespots which most encouraged predators to avoid them are ...Uncovering secrets of life in the ocean
... Biology, "it still lives in the same environment as its ancestors millions of years ago and has preserved many ancestral features. Studying the eyespots of its larva is probably the closest we can get to figuring out what eyes looked like when they first evolved." It is likely that the close ...Female butterflies go for sparkle -- not size -- when choosing to mate
... Size doesn't matter, at least not the size of the eyespots on a male butterfly's wings when female ... overturns previous work indicating that larger eyespots might be considered more desirable by female ... for wing size, eyespot size, quantity of eyespots on the wing, eyespot and pupil color, and pupil ...