Friday 4 May 2012: Hidden in plain view
I was walking down the lane, stopping to look at the violets, still flashing their purple come-ons from the bank, when I noticed the moth, clamped motionless to the foliage and slightly creased like a withered leaf.
It's an Angle Shades, Phlogophora meticulosa, a common species whose camouflage can make it difficult to spot. It has evolved to resemble to a dead leaf by scrunching its folded wings at rest so as to look crumpled. This type of camouflage is called crpysis; there is an amazing example of it in a gecko here.
One species signalling, one in disguise.
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