Flickr Group: "Caterpillars with Eyespots"

Some time ago I made a Flickr group called "Caterpillars with Eyespots" to collect photos of caterpillars that have eyespots. This is a great place for people to see the diversity in both the eyespots themselves, and the species that possess them! There are examples from all over the globe. Right now (Nov 23 2012) this group has 170 photos in the pool, and new ones are added all the time so be sure to check in regularly.

About "Caterpillars with Eyespots"

This is a group dedicated to collecting photos of Lepidopteran caterpillars with eyespots, or otherwise mimic snakes. 

Eyespots (markings that resemble vertebrate eyes) have evolved many times in Lepidopterans (butterflies and moths). The fact that this adaptation has arisen independently so often in this group indicates the general effectiveness of this anti-predator defence.

When adding a photo it is not a problem if you are unsure about the ID, but where possible please include any additional information about behaviour or body size and tag the following in any photo you add:

-Family
-Latin name (binomial name)
-Location (i.e., geotag)


If you are interested in the topic of caterpillar eyespots, or have photos you would like to add please consider joining the group and contributing to either the discussion topics or photo archive. You will need a Flickr account, but signing up is quite painless because you can link it directly to your Yahoo, Google, or Facebook account.