Section: Ecology
Topic: Ecology

The large and central Caligo martia eyespot may reduce fatal attacks by birds: a case study supports the deflection hypothesis in nature

Iserhard, Cristiano Agra1   ; Malta, Shimene2; Penz, Carla3  ; Fraga, Brenda Barbon2; Costa, Camila Abel2; Schwantz, Taiane1 ; Bordin, Kauane Maiara4  
1 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade Animal, Departamento de Ecologia, Zoologia e Genética, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
2 Departamento de Ecologia, Zoologia e Genética, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
3 Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA and Florida Museum of Natural History, Florida, USA
4 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

10.24072/pcjournal.442 - Peer Community Journal, Volume 4 (2024), article no. e71.

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Many animals have colorations that resemble eyes, but the functions of such eyespots are debated. Caligo martia (Godart, 1824) butterflies have large ventral hind wing eyespots, and we aimed to test whether these eyespots act to deflect or to thwart bird attacks through intimidation in a natural community in a Restinga Forest in austral South America. We used four types of paper facsimiles: unmanipulated C. martia (with eyespots, WE), facsimiles with UV enhanced eyespots (UV), camouflaged facsimiles lacking eyespots (CM), and light-coloured facsimiles that were not camouflaged and lacked eyespots (NC). Two experiments were performed: Experiment 1 used facsimiles in a natural resting position, and in Experiment 2 facsimiles were positioned with the wings open, with ventral wing surfaces and body exposed to viewers. In both experiments facsimiles were placed in two forest sites, organized in 50 blocks with four facsimiles each, and checked for predator attacks every 24 h for five consecutive days. While WE and UV facsimiles were mostly attacked in non-vital areas (wings), most bird attacks on CM were directed at vital body areas. Notably, CM facsimiles had lower attack probability than WE, UV and NC. Our results indicate that C. martia eyespots appear to have a deflection function. Eyespots did not appear to reduce attack rates, suggesting that local bird species were not intimidated. Both eyespots and camouflage can be considered efficient functional traits in defence against predation in forest environments, and experiments focusing on local predators and prey are key to our understanding of wing pattern evolution in Lepidoptera.

Published online:
DOI: 10.24072/pcjournal.442
Type: Research article
Keywords: Butterfly facsimiles, Defence strategy, Eye-mimicry, Intimidation, Neotropics, Restinga Forest

Iserhard, Cristiano Agra 1; Malta, Shimene 2; Penz, Carla 3; Fraga, Brenda Barbon 2; Costa, Camila Abel 2; Schwantz, Taiane 1; Bordin, Kauane Maiara 4

1 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade Animal, Departamento de Ecologia, Zoologia e Genética, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
2 Departamento de Ecologia, Zoologia e Genética, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
3 Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA and Florida Museum of Natural History, Florida, USA
4 Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
License: CC-BY 4.0
Copyrights: The authors retain unrestricted copyrights and publishing rights 
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     title = {The large and {central~\protect\emph{Caligo} martia}~eyespot may reduce fatal attacks by birds: a case study supports the deflection hypothesis in nature},
     journal = {Peer Community Journal},
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     year = {2024},
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Iserhard, Cristiano Agra; Malta, Shimene; Penz, Carla; Fraga, Brenda Barbon; Costa, Camila Abel; Schwantz, Taiane; Bordin, Kauane Maiara. The large and central Caligo martia eyespot may reduce fatal attacks by birds: a case study supports the deflection hypothesis in nature. Peer Community Journal, Volume 4 (2024), article  no. e71. doi : 10.24072/pcjournal.442. https://peercommunityjournal.org/articles/10.24072/pcjournal.442/

PCI peer reviews and recommendation, and links to data, scripts, code and supplementary information: 10.24072/pci.ecology.100597

Conflict of interest of the recommender and peer reviewers:
The recommender in charge of the evaluation of the article and the reviewers declared that they have no conflict of interest (as defined in the code of conduct of PCI) with the authors or with the content of the article.

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