Many Kinds of Mimicry

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Many Kinds of Mimicry
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Batesian Müllerrian Mimicry
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Defensive Colouration
(i) Camouflage
(ii) Flash colouration
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Defensive Colouration
(iii) Aposematic / Warning colour
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Defensive Colouration
Aposematic / Warning colour Punish predator
1. Unpalatability2. Dangerousness
Phymateus morbillosus
Micrurus fulvius
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Defensive Colouration
Aposematic / Warning colour

• Warning colours have frequency dependent
  fitness advantage ? polymorphisms ? expected
  within populations of warning-coloured
  organisms

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2 Major Types of Mimicry
1. Batesian Mimicry
Henry Walter Bates (1825 1892)
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Batesian Mimicry
Papilio dardanus
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Batesian Mimicry

• A Batesian mimic cheats ? uses models signal
  because itself is palatable
• Hurts model when frequency of mimics too high
• ? negatively frequency dependent

Papilio dardanus
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2 Major Types of Mimicry
2. Müllerian Mimicry
Fritz Müller (1821 1897)
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Müllerian Mimicry
Heliconia butterflies
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Müllerian Mimicry

• A Mullerian mimic doesnt cheat ? its
  unpalatable
• Helps model when frequency of mimics is high ?
  i.e. frequency dependent advantage
• Usually NOT sexually dimorphic

Heliconia butterflies
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Evolutionary Problems with Mimicry
The Problem unpalatability warning colour
could be seen as altruisms that benefit group
more than the individual! ? teach predator but
die in process How can this evolve?
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Evolutionary Problems with Mimicry

• Unpalatibility
• Cost energy to sequester compounds danger
• Benefit survival If cost gt benefit altruism
• benefit gt cost ? altruism ? will evolve
  under NS
• Unpalatable spp should live gregariously
  satiate pred.

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Evolutionary Problems with Mimicry

• Unpalatibility
• Cost energy to sequester compounds danger
• Benefit survival If cost gt benefit altruism
• benefit gt cost ? altruism ? will evolve
  under NS
• Unpalatable spp should live gregariously
  satiate pred. (evolved after/before
  unpalatibility?)

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Evolutionary Problems with Mimicry

• Warning colour
• Cost - energy to sequester compounds?
• - teach predators frequency
  dependent 1st disfavoured (conspicuous naïve
  pred.) Then favoured ? freq-dep selection
  against rare forms

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Evolutionary Problems with Mimicry

• Warning colour
• Cost - energy to sequester compounds?
• - teaching predators frequency
  dependent 1st disfavoured (conspicuous naïve
  pred.) Then favoured ? freq-dep selection
  against rare forms
• Kin selection model may explain initial evolving

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Evolutionary Problems with Mimicry

• Warning colour
• Cost - energy to sequester compounds?
• - teaching predators frequency
  dependent 1st disfavoured (conspicuous naïve
  pred.) Then favoured ? freq-dep selection
  against rare forms
• Special kind of shifting balance ? Phase I
  drifted to frequency significantly gt 0
  Phase II selection increases pattern
  Phase III new pattern increase range because
  fitter ? large population
  size emigration

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Evolutionary Problems with Mimicry

• Warning colour
• Cost - energy to sequester compounds?
• - teaching predators frequency
  dependent 1st disfavoured (conspicuous naïve
  pred.) Then favoured ? freq-dep selection
  against rare forms

• Individual selection ? already brightly
  coloured e.g. sexual selection
  flash
  colouration
  Batesian mimics

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Mimicry Speciation

• Mimicry will contribute to speciation by
  selecting against intermediates that lie
  between adaptive peaks ( similar to other
  intrinsically selected traits e.g.
  chromosomal rearrangement genes under
  epistatic selection)

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Batesian/Müllerian Mimicry Sound