Caterpillar with warning colours. The caterpillar of the night butterfly Apopestes spectrum, feeding off a broom plant. This caterpillar has elaborate markings and is coloured bright yellow, white and black. These are warning colours which make the caterpillar deliberately conspicuous to predators. Warning (aposematic) colouration indicates that the animal has built-in defences such as a sting, has poisonous or distasteful flesh, or can strike back in some way. Apopestes spectrum has distaste- ful flesh. An inexperienced predator will attack and taste the caterpillar, reject its flesh, and be warned in future by the bright colours.