Moth with warning colours. The Burnet moth Zygaena fausta with its bright red and black body colours. These are warning colours. They serve to make th

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Moth with warning colours. The Burnet moth Zygaena fausta with its bright red and black body colours. These are warning colours. They serve to make the Burnet moth deliberately conspicuous to its predators. Warning (aposematic) colouration indicates that the animal has built-in defences such as a sting, or poisonous flesh, or a capacity to strike back in some way. Zygaena fausta is an inedible moth, its flesh is extremely distasteful. An inexperienced predator will attack and taste the moth, reject it, and be warned in future by the bright colours. Because Zygaena has no need to escape, it is sluggish & easily caught by humans.

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Size: 2480px × 3569px
Photo credit: © CLAUDE NURIDSANY & MARIE PERENNOU/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: animal, aposematic, burnet, colour, colours, fausta, insect, insecta, invertebrate, invertebrates, moth, nature, type, warning, wildlife, zoology, zygaena