27 August 2021

Moths are eaten by birds, small rodents, bats, and lizards and are especially vulnerable during the day. To avoid predation many hide in plain sight. Here are four moths that use camouflage to survive.

The peppered moth (Biston betularia) is a camouflage master. The adults look like bark, the caterpillars (above) look like twigs.

Research indicates that the caterpillars can sense the twig’s color with their skin and match their body color to the background to protect themselves from predators.

— Wikipedia: peppered moth

You can see an adult peppered moth on a plain surface …

… but on birch bark you (mostly) don’t. This particular moth could have roosted on a darker spot but then we’d think the photo was just bark.

The buff tip moth (Phalera bucephala), native to Eurasia, is visible on a mothing cloth …

… but matches a birch twig in the wild.

The pandora sphinx moth (Eumorpha pandorus) is large and easy to see on plain surfaces.

Here’s why he is green.

And finally, this is the moth that inspired this article.

Oxydia angusta moth.

(Photo Mileniusz Spanowicz) pic.twitter.com/iyUgXQg3n4

— Weird Animals (@Weird_AnimaIs) August 10, 2021

Now you see me. Now you don’t.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)