User:SteveBaker/deimatic display

...deimatic (or dymantic) display...

"An evolutionary strategy in which an animal adopts a display designed to scare off a predator."

eg Spots on wings that look like eyes. Octopus or cuttlefish displays.

Cephalopod Behaviour by Roger T. Hanlon and John B. Messenger (Oct 28, 1998)

http://books.google.com/books?id=Nxfv6xZZ6WYC&pg=PA80&lpg=PA80&dq=deimatic+display&source=bl&ots=sCB_ZWgNwf&sig=sHPE8bobiJks6ijUeFE4Ysl2byE&hl=en&ei=u_-gTZrpIqjg0gGe3bT7BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CEwQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=deimatic%20display&f=false

The Praying Mantids by Frederick R. Prete, Harrington Wells, Patrick H. Wells and Lawrence E. Hurd (Nov 24, 1999)

"A few nudibranchs have bright colour patterns which are usually hidden but can be displayed rapidly as a means of startling and frightening off a potential predator. The classic example is the Spanish Dancer, Hexabranchus sanguineus, which only displays the brilliant red and white colour pattern on the dorsal side of it mantle when it is disturbed and beginning to swim."

Encyclopedia of entomology By John L. Capinera

Sometimes a 'real' warning ("aposematism") (eg "I am poisonous") -- eg the Phymateus grasshopper...or a scare tactic (crypsis) eg Praying mantis and phasmids, sphymid months.

Journal of Herpetology  > Vol. 23, No. 3, Sep., 1989  > Deimatic Behavior in PLeurodyma Brachiops. By Marcio Martins http://www.jstor.org/pss/1564457

Frogs.

Journal of Zoology (2005), 266: 385-394

"Amphibian skin is characterized by the presence of mucous glands, related to cutaneous breathing, reproduction and water balance, and granular glands, related to the production of toxins used in defence. In some species the granular glands can form accumulations in certain regions of the body. This is the case for inguinal macroglands of the leptodactylid frog Physalaemus nattereri, where these structures form a pair of black discs associated with deimatic behaviour. The morphology of the inguinal macroglands and their secretion were studied in this species and correlated to deimatic behaviour. The inguinal macroglands are formed from elongated granular glands that, in contrast with the granular glands of the rest of the skin, have small spherical granules with a proteinic content. In the dermis of the whole body, except for the inguinal macroglands and the inguinal region, a well-developed calcified dermal layer is observed. During deimatic behaviour these macroglands discourage a potential predator from attacking, but if visual cues are insufficient and the predator persists in the attack, a toxic secretion is eliminated in its mouth. This elimination is favoured by the absence of a calcified dermal layer in the macroglands, which makes the dermal region softer than the rest of the dorsal skin."

Revista de Etologia versão ISSN 1517-2805 Rev. etol. v.7 n.1 São Paulo jun. 2005 The rattling of a snake quickly attracts attention and has been identified as a "deimatic" display, designed to frighten the signal receiver (Edmunds, 1974 cited by Fenton & Licht, 1990) and as an aposematic one to avoid that big animals stepping on it (Fenton & Licht, 1990).

This antipredator behavior is very effective and recent experiments showed that 43 out of 44 peacock butterflies with intact eyespots survived attacks by blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) (Vallin et al., 2005, 2006)

This antipredator behavior seems to be less effective and experiments have shown that only 6 out of 27 eyed hawkmoths survived attacks from blue and great tits (Parus major) when the bird and lepidopteran interacted during 30-minute trials (Vallin et al., 2007).