Masquerade is associated with polyphagy and larval overwintering in the Lepidoptera

Masquerading animals benefit from the difficulty that predators have in differentiating them from the inedible objects, such as twigs, that they resemble. The function of masquerade has been demonstrated, but how it interacts with the life history of organisms has not been studied. Here, we report the use of comparative analyses to test hypotheses linking masquerade to life-history parameters. We constructed a phylogenetic tree of the British species of the lepidoptera families Geometridae and Drepanidae and compiled life history and colouration data from the literature. We found that masquerade is associated with the exploitation of a greater diversity of host plants whether measured by the number of families or genera. We found a positive relationship between body size and polyphagy among masquerading species, and no relationship among cryptic species. Among those species predominantly found on woody host plants, masquerading species are more likely to overwinter as larvae while crypt...