Sunday, September 7, 2008

on leaves



The Phylliidae family, also known as leaf insects, possess the ability to mimic the form of a leaf to protect themselves from predators. From Britannica:


"The female has large leathery forewings (tegmina) that lie edge to edge on the abdomen and resemble, in their vein pattern, the midrib and veins in a leaf. Females are flightless and so the hindwings have no function. The male has small tegmina and ample, non-leaflike, functional hindwings."

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