Penn biologist says fake eyes have enabled tropical caterpillars to thrive

Thirty-two years ago, Penn biologist Daniel Janzen broke some ribs falling into a ravine in the Area de Conservacion Guanacaste in northwestern Costa Rica. Sore and unable to leave his chair beneath a 25-watt light bulb deep in the forest, Janzen began to study the moths attracted to the dim light. What resulted was more than three decades of work collecting, photographing and raising caterpillars into adults, then identifying each of the species, half of which had never been described before. The operation continues to this day, 365 days a year, with the help of 33 trained Costa Rican assistants.

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