Wild Sown (@wildsown.bsky.social)

Green insect turns a puzzling shade of hot pink Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Email address Thank you! In the pitch black hours nearing midnight last March on Barro Colorado Island in Panama, a team of scientists came across a startling discovery: a hot pink leaf-masquerading katydid (Arota festae), striking a pose in the glow of a research station light. Leaf-masquerading katydids are camouflage insects that usually resemble green leaves to ward off predators. Pink ones are a rarity among the rainforest-dwelling species, so the researchers kept the adult female bug under observation. Eleven days later, she was green. Researchers say it’s the first time a katydid has been observed completing a full color shift within a single adult life stage. Previously, scientists considered pink katydids to be rare, disadvantageous mutants. The team that found this color-changing insect believes that its hot pink-to-green transformation could have evolved to mimic “delayed greening” in rainforests, which occurs when budding tropical leaves mature from pink or red to green. The findings are described in a study recently published in the journal Ecology. “Rather than a bizarre genetic quirk, this may actually be a finely tuned survival strategy that tracks the life cycle of the rainforest leaves this... https://www.popsci.com/environment/green-insect-turns-pink/