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Batesian mimicry is a form of mimicry where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a predator of them both. It is named after the English naturalist Henry Walter Bates , who worked on butterflies in the rainforests of Brazil.
Comparison of Batesian and Müllerian mimicry, illustrated with a hoverfly, a wasp and a bee. In Müllerian mimicry, two or more species have similar warning or aposematic signals and both share genuine anti-predation attributes (e.g. being unpalatable), as first described in Heliconius butterflies. [53] This type of mimicry is unique in ...
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 has discovered that the viceroy is, in fact more toxic than the monarch and this resemblance should be considered as a case of Müllerian mimicry.
Batesian mimicry, named for the 19th century naturalist Henry Walter Bates who first noted the effect in 1861, "provides numerous excellent examples of natural selection" [16] at work. The evolutionary entomologist James Mallet noted that mimicry was "arguably the oldest Darwinian theory not attributable to Darwin."
In Batesian mimicry, wing colour patterns help edible lepidopterans mimic inedible models, while in Müllerian mimicry, inedible butterflies resemble each other to reduce the numbers of individuals sampled by inexperienced predators. [8] Scales may have evolved initially for providing insulation.
Its wings feature an orange and black pattern, and over most of its range it is a Müllerian mimic [4] with the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus).The viceroy's wingspan is between 53 and 81 mm (2.1 and 3.2 in). [5]
The hoverflies are harmless Batesian mimics of the stinging bees. This chapter discusses Batesian mimicry, also mentioning observations and opinions of Fritz Müller and Wallace. Beddard grants that Bates's theory is very strongly supported by the observations that Bates made in South America, especially on butterflies, though again he tests ...
Chapter 13 Protective and Aggressive Mimicry. Poulton gives examples of mimicry in other insect groups, remarking the "very imperfect" resemblance of bee hawk-moths to bees, which totally failed to "impose on" a lizard, but noting that the much more convincing mimicry of the hornet clearwing moth was treated with extreme caution by an ...