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 specifical...g different evolutionary models, he found that the eyespots on the upperside of the butterflies' wings appear ...t a species can use the same signal in this case, eyespots on different areas of its body to communicate dif...

Uncovering secrets of life in the ocean

...mental 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 couplin...

Zoologists challenge longstanding theory that 'eyespots' mimic the eyes of predators' enemies

...ular markings, often referred to as eyespots. Many eyespots are effective in startling or intimidating predato...oof paper. Specific patterns, such as intimidating eyespots of different shapes, sizes and number, and with di...ther conspicuous features and that the features of eyespots which most encouraged predators to avoid them are ...

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 butterflie...es, overturns previous work indicating that larger eyespots might be considered more desirable by female butte...reference for wing size, eyespot size, quantity of eyespots on the wing, eyespot and pupil color, and pupil re...

Eyespots in Biological Dictionary

Eyespots

An eyespot is an eye-like marking. They are found on butterflies, reptiles and birds. In members of the Felidae family, the white circular markings on the backs of the ears are termed ocelli, and they are functionally similar to eyespots in other animals. Owl butterflies (genus Caligo) bear e...