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Butterfly Effect
At each stage a butterfly has found its own strategy to survive. For example a caterpillar is a very soft and slow moving juicy
looking morsel of food. So it is an easy game for birds, wasps and even mammals. So how do they protect themselves?
Would you believe they have 5 major aces up their sleeve? The first one is their choice of host plants like the milk weed cat-
erpillars (plain/striped tigers) which make them obnoxious and unpalatable to eat. The second method is camouflage. They
blend in with the host plant leaf texture like the common baron or look like inedible bird droppings at least up to few instars
(lime butterfly). The third is having a big eyespot rendering them a look of miniature snakes making them look bigger and
scarier. The fourth is emitting a bad smell which wards of parasitic wasps which use their bodies to lay eggs. But recently it
has been seen that they have an even more interesting way to ward of their predators! That is by taking the camouflage to
the next level. In 2011, a study on butterflies from Ecuador showed that 4 different species caterpillars have the same look 1 !
Till this time it was only thought that the adult butterfly followed mimicry. Quite a revelation it turned out to be.
In the chrysalis/pupa stage they either stay out of view by forming pupa under the leaf (common crow) or be in camouflage
colours of green (leaf/stem) or brown (branch/twig/bark) essentially keeping a low profile.
Common Baron Caterpillar
Common Mormon false eyes
In adult stage they ward of predators by their speed or flight pattern or by perching under the leaves. But the most formida-
ble one is their art of mimicry. Mimicry is where two different species have the same wing markings/patterns. There are two
forms this mimicry can take. A non-poisonous butterfly mimicking the poisonous one (Batesian Mimicry) to avoid being eat-
en and poisonous butterflies resembling each other so that only few of them need to be sacrificed to teach the predators a
lesson (Mullerian mimicry). And how they do it is mind blowing to say the least!
According to research in an Amazonian butterfly, scientists found that these butterflies have 3 versions of chromosomal
patterns existing in the same butterfly species 2 ! By controlling the gene sequence which controls the wing pattern, a butter-
fly can essentially tailor make its wing pattern to resemble the milkweed butterfly with which it co-habits to escape preda-
tion! How cool is that!
Now going back to the title of this write up “Butterfly effect”, it could essentially be interpreted as “Small causes have larger
effects”! By conserving a teeny weeny beautiful butterfly we are essentially conserving earth for our generations to come!
That’s how much an important part butterflies play in nature!
References:
1. https://www.livescience.com/17647-caterpillar-mimicry-predation.html
2.https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110814141410.htm
Common Mormon
pupa green and
brown in colours
based on surround-
ing colour
Blue Oakleaf resem-
bling dead leaf
Pictures: Theivaprakasham Hari (except Blue Oakleaf)
PATTAMPOOCHI
A TNBS MAGAZINE
WINGS 2 VEINS 1
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