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Onychophoran and Lepidopteran Mimic – side-by-side

Onychophoran and Lepidopteran Mimic - side-by-side

At left is a close-up image of the head of a velvet worm, an arthropod-relative so unique that it is classified within its own phylum, Onychophora. At right is a caterpillar of unknown species found in the same locale, the Amazonian cloud forest in Ecuador, and proposed to be a Batesian mimic of the velvet worm. Both were discovered by a team of researchers and students from Western University in Ontario and reported this month in the Summer 2018 issue of American Entomologist.

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