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The green-banded broodsac, a parasitic flatworm, is said to parasitise the eye stalks of snails, and through imitating a caterpillar attracts the attention of a bird. But how does it know what a caterpillar looks like, if it doesn’t even possesses complex eyes?
Flatworms have primitive eyespots with a single type of photoreceptor on its head that can detect the intensity of light. So how then is it able to imitate a caterpillar in the way birds (and humans) would observe a caterpillar? Why is this kind of behaviour generally accepted to be an example of 'aggressive mimicry'?
Flatworms have primitive eyespots with a single type of photoreceptor on its head that can detect the intensity of light. So how then is it able to imitate a caterpillar in the way birds (and humans) would observe a caterpillar? Why is this kind of behaviour generally accepted to be an example of 'aggressive mimicry'?