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About the Cover
Cover: Acoustic caterpillars? One does not think of caterpillars as being especially noisy, but research by Brown, Boettner and Yack (see article on p. 993
) demonstrates that several species of silk- and hawkmoth caterpillars produce audible clicking sounds. The silkmoth caterpillar portrayed on the cover, Antheraea polyphemus, clicks its mandibles following an attack by a live or simulated predator. Sound production typically precedes or accompanies defensive regurgitation. The authors provide evidence to support the hypothesis that caterpillar clicking functions as an acoustic aposematic signal to warn a predator of the impending regurgitant defense. (Photo credit: Sarah Brown.)
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