Mimicry, that is, looking like something other than what you are, is one of nature’s most wonderful defense strategies. If you, an insect, look like a leaf, then predators that eat insects, but not leaves, are far less likely to eat you – if they can even see you. Leaf mimicry is an exceptionally clever form of camouflage.

For some insects, looking like a leaf serves as protection from hungry predators. For others, waiting in plain sight for unwitting prey is a valuable way. The adaptation is most common among insects but can also be found in reptiles, amphibians, and even fish. In most of the leaf-mimicking species, males are far more rare than females, undoubtedly a reflection of the female’s ability to reproduce female young without a male partner.

In the general understanding of evolution, an insect that looks like a leaf will live longer and reproduce more effectively and competitively, thus favoring the leaf mimicry adaptation. Since those adults will reproduce more effectively, they will pass on more young, thus supporting continued adoption of the leaflike appearance. Life in nature can be reduced to only one thing; the struggle for survival.

This struggle is most important for prey animals at the moment a predator encounters it. In addition to the “fight-or-flight” tactic, one of the more frequently used defenses is to be invisible. If the predator does not recognize his prey as prey but sees it as something else that is to him of no interest, the prey succeeds in surviving.

In such a way, prey reduces the risk of injury and potential death because it does not need to fight for its life. Additionally, the prey reduces unnecessary wastage of biological resources, as it is not physically active as it would have to be during flight. Instead, it just stands still in place.

In addition to defensive mimicry, there is also mimicry for the purpose of attack. Namely, certain predators use mimicry to come closer and closer to their prey, making them much easier to catch.

In nature, every favorable adaptation has a cost, even natural adaptations that are important to the survival of a species. In other words, evolution works with the principle of no pain, no gain. This effect can be easily seen in the leaf or stick insects.

Essentially, due to the drastic changes in their bodies and behavior necessary to look and act like plants, these species have almost all lost the ability to fly. Logically, this limits their chance of finding an adequate mating partner. In response, these insects solved the problem by evolving a parthenogenic type of reproduction.

In other words, females can lay eggs that are not fertilized, which will hatch the new generation, generally only females. Of course, the females will always prefer finding a male to fertilize their eggs for the purpose of recombination of their genetic material and to produce male offspring.

Some geckos and frogs look like leaves, but the most common imitators of leaves are found in the insect world. Indeed, there are more than a thousand species of insects surviving with the help of mimicry. The most famous and interesting types of insects that use mimicry to its fullest potential are the leaf and stick insects.

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1. Giant Leaf Insect

The giant leaf insect (Phyllium gigantes) is found in southeast Asia and Australia. The giant leaf insect is the largest species belonging to its genus, reaching up to four inches in size. They are found most abundantly in western Malaysia in the tropics.

The females typically have large elytra (wings) that lie edge to edge on the abdomen and tend to lack hind wings, making them usually flightless. Males have small elytra and sometimes transparent non-leaflike functional hind wings. Most giant leaf insects found in the wild tend to be females and the first male of this species was not discovered until 1994.

In captivity, the species has primarily been observed to reproduce by parthenogenesis, meaning the females are asexual and can produce female offspring with unfertilized eggs. The primary reproductive pattern in the wild is unknown. Eggs are brown or black and glossy and resemble seeds. They hatch around six months after breeding.

Newly hatched young nymphs tend to be wingless and brown or reddish in color. They develop their green color after feeding on leaves. Both the adult and larval stages feed on plants. The main plant food sources for this species are oak and bramble tree leaves. There are no known subspecies; this insect has proved to be popular for rearing in captivity.

2. Indian Oakleaf Butterfly

The Indian oakleaf butterfly (Kallinma inachus) is native to tropical Asia and is the national butterfly of India. This magnificent butterfly most frequently goes by the unusual but descriptive and somewhat informative common name of the Orange Oakleaf. It has several other general names, though, in various parts of its range.

These include such terms as the dead leaf and the Indian oakleaf. Professionals, like researchers, typically refer to it by its formal scientific name.

The Indian oakleaf ranks as comparatively large for a butterfly. It also displays a moderate degree of the physiological characteristics of sexual dimorphism. In its case, though, it’s not in size. Mature individuals of both genders, therefore, remain virtually identical in overall average size. This often varies from region to region, however.

That’s typically due to various environmental factors. A typical wingspan nevertheless ranges from 3.3 to 4.3 inches. It’s in general appearance, though, that the gender-based difference manifests itself, though in only minor ways. The upper side of the hindwing primarily presents as a light blue shade.

It also displays multiple light-colored lines, running from front to back. The upper side of the forewings, however, offers a strikingly different pattern. These, in fact, manifest a pattern of three separate sections. The outer area shows deep black, with a small white spot near the tip. The middle, though, shows orange, and the base light blue.

It’s the underside of both wings that genuinely sets the Indian oakleaf apart. That’s due to the extraordinary degree of camouflage the invertebrate has evolved. This part of the wings presents shades of dark and light brown, with a texture resembling a dried leaf.

Widely spread throughout the world, the Indian oakleaf prefers dense forests, especially along small streams and heavy undergrowth. Its favored food sources are sap from local trees and liquid from overly ripe fruit. It is food for ants, spiders, birds, and wasps.

3. Stick Insects

Although technically more like limbs than leaves, the stick insects are a large group that adopts the appearance of sticks, leaves, or twigs. When camouflage isn/t sufficient, some stick insects use active forms of defense to hold off predators. For example, Eurycantha calcarata can release an awful-smelling substance.

Others have brightly colored wings that are invisible when folded against their body; when they feel threatened, they flash open their wings, then immediately drop to the ground and again hide their wings, confusing the predator. Other defenses are easier to see, such as the Peruvian fire stick. It, too, releases a milky white substance that is toxic to predators.

To warn of this, they have the striking red, black, and yellow colors of a distasteful—or disagreeable—insect. Stick insects, like katydids, are everywhere but Antarctica. They live in tropical rainforests and temperate woodlands.

Stick insets generally don’t hide but remain perfectly still in plain sight. If they do move, it is often in a pattern that imitates the slow movement of a leaf or twig in the wind. Most are nocturnal, avoiding diurnal predators like birds, but not bats. Camouflage is no help against the echolocation of a bat.

The female stick insect can reproduce without a male partner. The eggs, however, will all hatch as females unless fertilized by a male.

4. Moss Mimic Stick Insect

The moss mic stick insect (Trychopeplus laciniatus) is native to Central America. Like all other insects in its order, including walking sticks and true leaf insects, the moss mimic stick is an insect that blends into its surroundings by mimicking the forms and colors around it. In this case, it is surrounded by mossy trees and foliage.

Its mossy appearance is emulated with varying patches of chitinous cuticle that splayed out from its exterior, giving it the right look to be almost invisible to the naked eye when sitting still on a wooded background. Though its camouflage would seem perfect for stalking prey, it is actually a herbivore and uses its looks solely for self-defense.

Instead of laying eggs in the traditional cluster or hidden within plants like most insects, the moss mimic insect will only lay its eggs one-by-one attached very loosely to a surface. The eggs may fall to the forest floor, and from there, but from wherever, the nymphs hatch and begin the cycle again.

5. Dead-Leaf Grasshopper

The dead-leaf grasshopper (Chorotypus saussure) is native to Malaysia. It is very difficult to spot because of its dull brown color and almost perfect camouflage; it glows purple under ultraviolet light. Several species have developed this mimicry defense in Malaysia.

6. Dead-Leaf Moth

Numerous moths resemble leaves. Among them, the dead-leaf moth (Uropyia meticulodina) is native to China and Taiwan. . The dead-leaf moth looks like a curled-up dead leaf with shadows and light in all the right spaces.

Also looking like a dead leaf is Paonias excaecata, found in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. . It is commonly known as the blinded sphinx. It is nocturnal, and the adults do not feed.

Yet another dead leaf moth is Oxytenis modestia. Found in Central and South America, it looks entirely like a brown flat dead leaf. They are yellowish below and varying shades of mottled brown above with leaflike veins and a dark, leaflike “midrib” from the tips of the forewings across the hindwings.

The head and legs are on the underside of the body, and the body itself is colored like the wings. The males have concave forewings, while the females have convex forewings, giving them an even more leaflike appearance than the somewhat oddly-shaped males. Dead-leaf Moths show seasonal color differences and will gently flutter to the ground like a falling leaf if it’s disturbed. Their caterpillars, interestingly, look like bird droppings.

7. Leaf Katydid

The leaf katydid (Pycnopalpa bicordata) occurs throughout Central America, parts of Mexico, and northern South America. Like crickets, they use their front wings to make “songs” to one another, which they hear with organs on their front legs. They prefer tropical forests. They are eaten by bats, birds, spiders, frogs, snakes, and other insect-eating animals.

8. Katydid/Bush Cricket/Long-Horned Grasshopper

The North American katydid (Microcentrum rhombifolium) makes a clicking call that sounds like “Katy Did,” thus accounting for its name. There are more than 6,000 kinds of katydids found everywhere but Antarctica. About 255 types live in North America. They are not harmful to humans and are not considered to be pests.

Both genders can make the sound. Katydids are related to crickets and grasshoppers, with large back legs for jumping. However, unlike grasshoppers, Katydids have incredibly long, thin antennae. Further, unlike crickets, their bodies resemble a kite with four equal lengths. They have wings and will fly away from danger. Most sightings occur when they land. Some have even gone on car rides, clinging to the hood of the vehicle.

Adults are well-camouflaged for roosting on trees. Their body resembles a green leaf, even down to leaf-like veins. Katydids will remain very still when on alert but will quickly fly away when scared or disturbed. Juveniles look more like crickets or grasshoppers.

They have vivid colors and dark spots or speckles on them. This appearance all changes as they mature. Katydids lay their eggs on twigs in a single row, each slightly overlapping the egg next to it. The eggs are flat, almost like tiny pumpkin seeds, and they won’t all be the same color.

Katydids eat the leaves from the tops of trees and bushes, where there may be fewer predators and less competition. They can be found in North American parks, gardens, fields, and woods. Adults are most active in summer and autumn, but in some areas, the warm weather allows them to remain active all year long. Planting chrysanthemums, lavender, cilantro, and garlic will discourage them.

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