NDLI: “An eye for an eye?”—on the generality of the intimidating quality of eyespots in a butterfly and a hawkmoth

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Vallin, Adrian Jakobsson, Sven Wiklund, Christer
Copyright Year	2007
Abstract	Large eyespots on the wings of butterflies and moths have been ascribed generally intimidating qualities by creating a frightening image of a bird or mammal much larger than the insect bearing the eyespots. However, evidence for this anti-predator adaptation has been largely anecdotal and only recently were peacock butterflies, Inachis io, shown to effectively thwart attacks from blue tits, Parus caeruleus. Here, we test whether large eyespots on lepidopterans are generally effective in preventing attacks from small passerines and whether the size of insect or bird can influence the outcome of interactions. We staged experiments between the larger eyed hawkmoths, Smerinthus ocellatus, and the smaller peacock butterflies, I. io, and the larger great tits, Parus major, and the smaller blue tits, P. caeruleus. Survival differed substantially between the insect species with 21 of 24 peacock butterflies, but only 6 of 27 eyed hawkmoths, surviving attacks from the birds. Thus, surprisingly, the smaller prey survived to a higher extent, suggesting that factors other than insect size may be important. However, great tits were less easily intimidated by the insects’ eyespots and deimatic behaviour and consumed 16 of 26, but the blue tits only 8 of 25, of the butterflies and hawkmoths. Our results demonstrate that eyespots per se do not guarantee survival and that these two insects bearing equally large eyespots are not equally well protected against predation.
Starting Page	1419
Ending Page	1424
Page Count	6
File Format	PDF
ISSN	03405443
Journal	Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Volume Number	61
Issue Number	9
e-ISSN	14320762
Language	English
Publisher	Springer-Verlag
Publisher Date	2007-02-27
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Eyespots Predation Predator Prey Butterfly Zoology Behavioural Sciences
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

The anti-predator function of ‘eyespots’ on camouflaged and conspicuous prey

Deflective effect and the effect of prey detectability on anti-predator function of eyespots

Rodent predation on hibernating peacock and small tortoiseshell butterflies

Behavioural interactions between the lizard Takydromus tachydromoides and the praying mantis Tenodera aridifolia suggest reciprocal predation between them

Foraging tactics of an ambush predator: the effects of substrate attributes on prey availability and predator feeding success

Number of eyespots and their intimidating effect on naïve predators in the peacock butterfly

Predator presence decreases food consumption in juvenile Xenopus laevis

Metrics of predation: perils of predator-prey ratios : Predator-prey ratios

Auditory defence in the peacock butterfly (Inachis io) against mice (Apodemus flavicollis and A. sylvaticus)

“An eye for an eye?”—on the generality of the intimidating quality of eyespots in a butterfly and a hawkmoth

Similar Documents

The anti-predator function of ‘eyespots’ on camouflaged and conspicuous prey

Deflective effect and the effect of prey detectability on anti-predator function of eyespots

Rodent predation on hibernating peacock and small tortoiseshell butterflies

Behavioural interactions between the lizard Takydromus tachydromoides and the praying mantis Tenodera aridifolia suggest reciprocal predation between them

Foraging tactics of an ambush predator: the effects of substrate attributes on prey availability and predator feeding success

Number of eyespots and their intimidating effect on naïve predators in the peacock butterfly

Predator presence decreases food consumption in juvenile Xenopus laevis

Metrics of predation: perils of predator-prey ratios : Predator-prey ratios

Auditory defence in the peacock butterfly (Inachis io) against mice (Apodemus flavicollis and A. sylvaticus)

“An eye for an eye?”—on the generality of the intimidating quality of eyespots in a butterfly and a hawkmoth