Snake-mimic caterpillar (Hemeroplanes triptolemus)

The caterpillar of a hawk moth, Hemeroplanes triptolemus, hanging from a twig in the Peruvian Amazon. At rest it looks like any other caterpillar. Disturbed, it lets go with its front end, flips over and swells its forward segments into a wedge-shaped head with two big glossy eyespots, a convincing…

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