Day: November 3, 2015
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Bird Poop, Snake Head, and Leaf “Costumes” of the Spicebush Swallowtail
The ghouls and goblins of Halloween got me thinking about mimicry in the natural world. Mimicry is when an animal has evolved to look like something else. The spicebush swallowtail caterpillar provides some of my favorite examples of mimicry among Kentucky’s butterflies. The spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus) can be found throughout the eastern U.S. It…