This remarkable creature is an Owl Butterfly – named after its impressive wing design which resembles the eye of an owl.

Owl Butterflies are found in the tropical regions of Latin America, and are some of the world’s largest butterflies, with wingspans up to 20cm.

The origins of the fake eyeball are hotly debated. Some argue that the spot evolved specifically to mimic predators – such as owls – deterring smaller animals that would be tempted to eat the butterfly. Others suggest that it is simply the conspicuousness of the contrasting patterns that confuse predators into not recognising the butterfly at all.

In 2008, one set of researchers released a paper titled “Conspicuousness, not eye mimicry, makes eyespots effective antipredator signals”. This was followed up with a paper by a different set of researchers in 2015 called “Predator mimicry, not conspicuousness, explains the efficacy of butterfly eyespots”.

Having read only the title of both papers, I can definitively conclude that evolutionary biologists are sassy as hell. No idea which group is right though 🤷‍♂️

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Owl Butterfly (Caligo sp.), Santa Cruz Forest Reserve, Peru