Figure 1. Possible camouflage strategies of caterpillars in response to visually heterogeneous environments.

(A) In an environment composed of different coloured patches, caterpillars with a fixed genetic phenotype achieve compromised crypsis on all backgrounds. (B) The same habitat scenario as A but with larvae specialised to match one patch type, either by genetic polymorphism, restricting individuals to one patch colour, or by plastic polyphenism, in principle allowing individual larvae to move between patches and switch colour to match their background. (C) Larvae with genetic polymorphism or plastic polyphenism inhabiting a graded environment with intermediate colour patches, where phenotypes match the extreme, but not the intermediate backgrounds. (D) An environmental gradient with intermediate backgrounds, where larvae produce a continuous colour response to background colour, allowing utilisation of each patch colour.