Seldomly Understood

iguanamouth:

ahh i actually havent ! at first i thought you were actually talking about a CATERPILLAR that looks like a snake, and said cocoon on accident (specifically the caterpillar of the hemeroplanes triptolemus, or snake-mimic hawk moth)

but it TURNS OUT theres a species of butterfly that takes it way further, to the point where all the other caterpillars are like “is this really fucking necessary”

its the chrysalis of the daring-owl butterfly ! a species thats found in trinidad and spends a good portion of its young adult life trying to convince other things that its not actually completely helpless

LOOK at the detail thats gone into this though- i cant even imagine the journey  this look mustve taken, with lightly less-snakelike chrysalises being eaten over time again and again until youve got something with definable eyes and scales

apparently if disturbed theyll also rock violently back and forth, furthering the idea that this is a very dangerous pitviper with the tiniest body imaginable

the adult butterflies are much less exciting but honestly they dont need to be with a history like that a+ bug

(photos from x x x x )