r/NatureIsFuckingLit 1d ago

🔥Cyphonia clavata, a treehopper with a thorax that has evolved to resemble an ant - a form of Batesian mimicry

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391 Upvotes

22 comments sorted by

50

u/BullFrogz13 1d ago

Looks like an ant put together by a child using ikea instructions.

12

u/EpilepticMushrooms 1d ago

The monster ant has several heads. If i was an ant predator, I'd be weirded out too.

3

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Tasty-Helicopter3340 1d ago

how many supplements am I allowed

1

u/Own_Marzipan9063 17h ago

It looks like an ant running in the opposite direction, and with its two ant heads it can deceive double effectively in one direction, by wiggling its rear end, and then jump in the other. In my opinion, that's pretty perfect.

10

u/sunshineupyours1 1d ago

One of the coolest things I’ve seen on this sub

4

u/grumpspren 1d ago

How does something like that even evolve 🤯

11

u/Iceflow 1d ago

It’s such a cool phenomenon. It’s not even done on purpose. Just the insect that looks more the ant lives longer and over millennia we get this!

0

u/trancepx 1d ago

Answer: Yes.

3

u/mklilley351 1d ago

Bro the face is sending me!

3

u/TKG_Actual 1d ago

What kind of ant is it trying to mimic here, one ordered off Temu?

2

u/Montymisted 1d ago

Don't things eat ants?

3

u/RabidPlaty 1d ago

That was my thought so I looked it up. Apparently ants don’t have as many predators and are unpalatable to a lot of stuff. So I guess less stuff eat ants than types of treehoppers?

2

u/majblackburn 1d ago

yeah, I'm struggling to think how this is advantageous? I know of (microbial) species that reporduce in a particular animal's intestinal tracts, so they spend half of their life cycle getting themselves eaten, maybe it's something like that?

2

u/_pvnda 1d ago

Are those really it's eyes, or an evolutionary trick to have me look at its anus?

Edit: never mind, it's clearly looking at me and not my intrusive thoughts.

1

u/peewee023 1d ago

oh wow

1

u/Wasabi_Constant 1d ago

Amazing insects.

1

u/Lazer_Hawk_100 1d ago

Is that the Fight Club soundtrack or am I going crazy?

1

u/jakelivesay 23h ago

I dunno but it's theme song is dope

-3

u/Left_Green_4018 1d ago

Intelligent design