Coincident disruptive coloration

Hugh Cott's drawings of 'coincident disruptive coloration' in the frog then called Megalixalus fornasinii formed "persuasive arguments"[1] for natural selection. Left: active; right: at rest, marks coinciding.[2]

Coincident disruptive coloration or coincident disruptive patterns are patterns of disruptive coloration in animals that go beyond the usual camouflage function of breaking up the continuity of an animal's shape, to join up parts of the body that are separate. This is seen in extreme form in frogs such as Afrixalus fornasini where the camouflage pattern extends across the body, head, and all four limbs, making the animal look quite unlike a frog when at rest with the limbs tucked in.

A special case is the disruptive eye mask that camouflages the most conspicuous feature of many animals, the eye.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Stevens2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Cott1940 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).