Caterpillars, crypsis and context:Interpreting the adaptive significance of larval patterns requires viewing at appropriate distance in natural lightingand against natural background

摘要

Most young lepidopterists are as smitten by larvae as by the adults they eventually transform into. The literature has traditionally illustrated adults and included larvae in only one or a few color plates (e.g. Holland 1920, 1955; Klots 1951; Lutz 1948). Fortunately more books are now being published that feature immature stages, such as Allen et al. 2005, James and Nunnallee, 2011; Miller & Hammond, 2003; Minno et al. 2005; Wagner 2005; Wagner et al. 2011.