Automeris zugana PWND!!!!!!!!!!1

I came acorss these images of a tailless whip scorpion eating an adult Automeris zugana on the ACG photo database. As far as I know this photo was not a staged event, and the fact that it was in the ACG database suggests that it is in fact a natural predation event. The caption for these photos reads:

"Amblypigidae that has just caught this male who came to the lights in the house"



I think this demonstrates an important point: eyespots are effective against some predators and not others. Although this may largely go without saying, it is critical to keep in mind. Birds and monkeys are probably the main predators of caterpillars and moths, but parasitic flies and wasps are also important enemies of caterpillars and I'm not sure that they would be deterred by eyespots. Obviously this Amblypigidae wasn't.

See also a related earlier post: http://caterpillar-eyespots.blogspot.com/2011/07/some-eyespot-humor.html