Cockroaches that glow in the darkAs i pointed out in a recent post on the art of camouflage (see htt
Cockroaches that glow in the darkAs i pointed out in a recent post on the art of camouflage (see http://on.fb.me/1OjATh7), the mimicry of life’s creatures is endless and multipurposed. Much of it involves either hiding in the background to evade predators or pretending to look like something dangrerous or inedible, like those flies that resemble bees. One amazing example are these large glowing cockies from the Ecuadorian jungle known as Lucihormetica luckae. The three glowing spots of bioluminescent microbes (2 large and 1 tiny) in the night time photo are releasing the stored UV from the day in a pattern and at the same wavelength as the toxic click beetle, thus pretending to be non comestible. LozImage credit: Peter Vršanský and Dušan Chorváthttp://bit.ly/20INgdzhttp://bit.ly/24etvPzoriginal paper, paywall access: http://bit.ly/1QO61qN -- source link
#science#insect#cockroach#lucihormetica luckae#bioluminescent#glow-in-the-dark#evolution#mimicry