Mullerian mimicry: two or more species display the same warning signs to indicate to predators or competitors that they are unpalatable or dangerous; there is often no clear mimic or model in this situation because there is a selective pressure on both organisms to communicate the harm they can do to predators. Click here for some interesting articles on the ways that mimicry is being researched today. Stop Copying Me! Let's start with some terms we should all be familar with: mimic: the organism that resembles another organism in a way that proves to be adaptively beneficial to the mimic.
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Updated February 11, Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Hadley, Debbie. What Is Batesian Mimicry? What Is Coevolution? The similarities between the mimetic morphs and their models are just as remarkable as that of the grasshopper and its beetles.
Papilio dardanus has a highly specialized Batesian mimetic relationship with model species in the genera Danaus and Amauris Lepidoptera: Danaidae. Caterpillars of the model butterflies feed on distasteful plants such as milkweed and pass the chemicals to the adult, making them distasteful to predators-namely, birds and monkeys Sheppard The males and females of these model genera are similar; however, the species vary greatly in appearance. The mimic, P.
The races are distributed so that only races antinorii , meriones , and humbloti are completely isolated from other races. All other races hybridize at the edges of their respective ranges Sheppard The races are distinguished by black markings on the males wings and male genital armature morphology Clarke and Sheppard b.
The color pattern in males is always black and yellow, and differs only in detail from race to race Clarke and Sheppard a. The males have a typical swallowtail appearance and are readily eaten by birds. The females are highly polymorphic, making this a spectacular mimicry. Only in the isolated races of meriones on Madagascar , and humbloti on the Comoro Islands are the females monomorphic and nonmimetic Clarke and Sheppard Throughout the Ethiopian region can be found model species of the genera Danaus and Amauris each with its own mimic morph , or in most cases, several morphs.
Amauris niavius is an example of a model species. It is mimicked by ten different morphs throughout Africa. For example, the morph hippocoon mimics A. The success of a mimic's relationship to its model can be judged by color patterns, using a scale developed by Sheppard This scale plots a butterfly mimics relative fitness against its color pattern, with the color scale ranging from 0 to 5.
Primary factors influencing fitness of these color patterns would be abundance of the model and levels of predation Clarke and Sheppard a. Mimics falling into the color ranges above or below 3 will suffer decreased advantages because they appear less like the model Sheppard Each dardanus mimic has a specific host and cannot be found in any region without this host, but the morphs can be shared among races.
For example, four races dardanus , cenea , tibullus , and meseres in eastern Africa share thirty-one morphs, however, no one morph is found in all nine races Wickler How successful and common each morph is appears to be based on its model's abundance and its ability to closely match the model's color patterns and behavior.
When a species develops many mimetic morphs in an area, such as P. This chapter may be freely reproduced and distributed for noncommercial purposes. Home Contribute Links. Methods Primary literature on the subject was obtained from sources listed in the secondary literature.
Results Many relationships involving what were once thought to be Batesian mimicry are being reevaluated.
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