Can You Spot the Moth Perfectly Camouflaged Into a Tree?

A seemingly random tree branch has stumped internet users looking for the moth hidden in plain sight.

The image, shared on Reddit by user u/crabbysammy, shows a mottled branch with a moth blending into the natural pattern.

"Where is it?" commented one confused user, to which u/crabbysammy replied "in the center."

If you look closely, the moth is sitting beneath the twig protruding towards the camera, facing downwards. It appears as a faint upside-down triangle, with the edges of its wings visible as a zipper-like tooth pattern.

As for the species, u/crabbysammy told Newsweek that they are "pretty sure it's Catocala neogama."

Catocala neogama, also known as the "Bride" moth, is a species of moth found throughout the U.S, and Canada, ranging from Maine and Quebec south to Florida and West, as far as the Rocky Mountains. The moth's larval caterpillar form feeds on walnut trees, butternut trees and hickories, before metamorphosis. The moth exists in its adult form between the months of June and October. This varies slightly by region.

Camouflage or cryptic coloration like the one used by this moth blending into the background almost perfectly, is known as concealing coloration or background matching. As they make themselves indistinguishable from the background, a predator is much less likely to notice them and eat them. This is also seen in several species across the animal kingdom: for example, snow hares and other arctic mammals molt their brown summer fur and turn white to blend in with the winter snow.

Background matching can be taken to the extreme by some species, going as far as mimicking inert objects, including their shape as well as their color. Stick insects, for example, appear near identical to a simple twig if the insect does not move.

Other camouflage tactics include disruptive coloration, using patterns to disguise their shape and cause a predator to misidentify them. This is seen in zebra striping, and in other species of moth and butterfly with eyespots that fool the predator into thinking they are the eyes of another larger creature.

Some species take an entirely different approach to camouflage in that they appear incredibly bright and obvious to a predator, such as the vivid coloration of poisonous tree frogs. This is known as aposematism. It is meant as a warning to the predator that they are dangerous or unpalatable in some way, and therefore should not be eaten. Over time, predators learn that bright means bad, and they avoid animals that present these kinds of colorations. This tactic can be exploited by other species as non-toxic prey animals can evolve to mimic their toxic neighbors' bright colorations, and also end up being avoided by predators.

The moth in the Reddit post is using its background-matching camouflage well, it seems, as nobody can quite figure out where the moth ends and the branch begins.

"That is nature at its best," commented another Reddit user.

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