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In Batesian mimicry, the mimic effectively copies the coloration of an aposematic animal, known as the model, to deceive predators into behaving as if it were distasteful. [ a ] The success of this dishonest display depends on the level of toxicity of the model and the abundance of the model in the geographical area.
In Batesian mimicry, the mimic resembles the model, but does not have the attribute that makes it unprofitable to predators (e.g., unpalatability, or the ability to sting). In other words, a Batesian mimic is a sheep in wolf's clothing. Mimics are less likely to be found out (for example by predators) when in low proportion to their model.
This is known as Batesian mimicry, after Henry Walter Bates, a British naturalist who studied Amazonian butterflies in the second half of the 19th century. [79] Batesian mimicry is frequency dependent: it is most effective when the ratio of mimic to model is low; otherwise, predators will encounter the mimic too often. [80] [81]
Batesian mimicry occurs in multiple vertebrates, but is less prevalent in mammals due to a relative rarity of well-marked harmful models. However, this form of mimicry is prevalent in snakes and frogs, where chemical defense has coevolved with distinct coloration. Still, mammals have evolved Batesian mimicry systems where particularly powerful ...
Defensive mimicry includes the well-known Batesian and Müllerian forms of mimicry, where the mimic shares outward characteristics with an aposematic or harmful model. In Batesian mimicry, the mimic is modeled on a dangerous (usually unpalatable) species, while in Müllerian mimicry both species are harmful, and act as comimics, converging on a ...
Genetic polymorphism and natural selection give rise to otherwise edible species (the mimic) gaining a survival advantage by resembling inedible species (the model). Such a mimicry complex is referred to as Batesian and is most commonly known by the mimicry by the limenitidine viceroy butterfly of the inedible danaine monarch. Later research ...
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Another, rather complicated example occurs in the Batesian mimicry complex between a harmless mimic, the scarlet kingsnake (Lampropeltis elapsoides), and the model, the eastern coral snake (Micrurus fulvius), in locations where the model and mimic were in deep sympatry, the phenotype of the scarlet kingsnake was quite variable due to relaxed ...