Right Way Up is the Wrong Way, Pt. 2 - _TNY_5879
This dirce beauty (Colobura dirce), also known as the zebra mosaic (for obvious reasons), is doing something a bit odd here.
It isn't immediately obvious if you aren't familiar with this species, but the odd thing is that it is sitting with its head up.
These guys have a clever way of surviving bird attacks in that they have markings at the rear of the wings which sorta looks like ahead. Combining this with sitting with the head down result in an attacking bird which tries to go for the head of the butterfly might mess up and just snap at the rear of the hind wings while the rest of the butterfly gets away.
Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53372116747/
Right Way Up is the Wrong Way, Pt. 2 - _TNY_5879
This dirce beauty (Colobura dirce), also known as the zebra mosaic (for obvious reasons), is doing something a bit odd here.
It isn't immediately obvious if you aren't familiar with this species, but the odd thing is that it is sitting with its head up.
These guys have a clever way of surviving bird attacks in that they have markings at the rear of the wings which sorta looks like ahead. Combining this with sitting with the head down result in an attacking bird which tries to go for the head of the butterfly might mess up and just snap at the rear of the hind wings while the rest of the butterfly gets away.
Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53372116747/