Welcome to the first post and “A” day in the 2020 A to Z Challenge. The premise of the challenge is to create a daily blog post on a particular theme each day of April, except for Sundays. This works for the month of April with all 26 letters of the alphabet being used.
As I stated in my theme reveal post, my topic is Natural Texas. Let’s just jump right in:
“Aposematic Coloring”
What in the world is aposematic coloring? Well, let’s break down the word aposematic. According to dictionary.com, aposematic can be deconstructed as follows:
apo (English) + sēma (Greek)+ atic (English)
away from + sign + atic
The definition of aposematic is “colored or constructed in a way that indicates special capabilities for defense.”
Aposematic is a zoological term that was first used in 1890 by Edward Bagnall Boulton in his book The Colours of Animals. So if an animal has aposematic coloring, it has coloring that warns predators to keep away.
–A monarch butterfly rests on a flower, Monday, Sept. 17, 2018, in Urbandale, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) (from CNN)
One of the most important insects found in Texas is the monarch butterfly or Danaus plexippus. As kids, we all probably learned about monarch butterflies due to metamorphosis, migration, and mimicry. Monarchs, if you remember, fly south in the fall to a particular spot in the mountains of central Mexico, where they spend winter. They migrate from various places throughout North America and some monarchs travel up to 33,000 miles, a crazy distance. After winter, their goal is to lay eggs on the milkweed population of North America.
These arthropods are colored in such a way for protection. Their coloring (red/orange) is a signal to predators to stay away because they are distasteful due to chemicals that are present in their bodies. The most common aposematic colors are red, yellow, black, and white. These colors contrast with green plants, resist changes in shadow and lighting, are highly chromatic, and provide good camouflage from a distance.
Other aposematic animals are certain types of frogs, snakes, and even skunks. Here is my picture of an aposematically colored butterfly with coloring similar to a monarch. This butterfly is a Phyciodes tharos, commonly known as a pearl crescent. This butterfly was photographed near White Rock Lake in Dallas, Texas.
Great post, Denise! Looking forward to your A to Z posts – they’re always interesting. Be well 💚
Thanks, Martha! You, too!
Denise, Great Post. What a great topic! I eagerly await what comes next. Shades and colors that warn off predators huh. The human race has a similar defense scheme; The Members Only Jacket. If you seen anyone wearing such a jacket, DO NOT APPROACH! Good Luck. Zulu Delta
ZD, Members Only! They remind me of Luke on General Hospital (35 years ago). LOL. My B day somehow mysteriously was blank after a couple hours of work. I’ve got to redo it. Humbug!
I love butterflies. When my daughter lived in Texas she told me about a time every year when there were so many butterflies. I think she called it butterfly season. I wasn’t fortunate to be there during this time. : ( Never heard of aposematic colouring before. That is really interesting.
Thanks, Cheryl! The monarchs definitely come through this area every year. However, they are decreasing, which is terrible.