Professor Donald McFarlane Mimicry and Defense Protective Strategies Camouflage ( Cryptic coloration ) Diverse Coloration Diversion Structures Startle Structures 2 1
Camouflage ( Cryptic coloration ) Minimize 3d shape, e.g. flatfish Halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) 3 4 2
Counter Shading 5 Disruptive Coloration 6 3
Polymorphism Cepeae snails 7 Polymorphism Oophaga granuliferus 8 4
Polymorphism 9 Polymorphism Oophaga Geographic locations of study populations and their color patterns. (A) Map of the pacific coast of Colombia showing the three study localities: in blue Oophaga histrionica, in orange O. lehmanni, and in green the phyb population. (B) Examples of color patterns of individuals from the phyb population (1 4) and the pattern from a hybrid between Oophaga histrionica and O. lehmanni bred in the laboratory (H) 10 5
Diversion Structures 11 Startle Structures 12 6
Warning Coloration (Aposematic coloration) Advertise organism as distasteful, toxic or venomous Problem: Predators must learn by attacking prey; predator learning is costly to prey. Therefore strong selective pressure to STANDARDIZE on a few colors/patterns. This is MULLERIAN MIMICRY. Most common is yellow/black, or red/yellow/black 13 Warning Coloration (Aposematic coloration) Bumblebee (Bombus sp.) Sand Wasp (bembix oculata) Black and yellow mangrove snake (Boiga dendrophila) Yellow banded poison dart frog (Dendrobates leucomelas Fire salamander ( Salamandra salamandra) 14 7
Warning Coloration (Aposematic coloration) coral snakes (Micrurus sp.) ~ 50 species in two families, all venomous 15 Batesian Mimicry 1862 Henry Walter Bates; A Naturalist on the River Amazons 16 8
Batesian Mimicry Batesian mimics cheat they lack toxins, venom, etc. but imitate toxic/venomous species to gain the advantage of predator deterrence. 17 Batesian mimicry involves an unpalatable/dangerous MODELand a palatable MIMIC. Disadvantage is that mimics must be rare compared to models, otherwise predator learning will be reversed. How much rarer? How unpalatable/dangerous is the model? What is the shape of the predator learning curve? What proportion of the predator population is experienced versus naïve? 9
Automimicry Danaus plexippus Monarch butterflies feed on milkweed and accumulate toxic cardenolides. Cardenolide concentration varies greatly between individuals (only 12 of 50 collected caused vomiting in Blue Jays) WITHIN the species, palatable individuals mimic high cardenolide individuals. Three examples of female limited polymorphism in Batesian mimicry. Hypolimnas misippus: across western India and Africa, males are monomorphic and nonmimetic whereas females are trimorphic, each mimicking a different form of the model, Danaus chrysippus. There are no male like nonmimetic females in this species ( Ford, 1975, Smith, 1984 and Wynter Blyth, 1957). Papilio polytes: across their distributional range in the Oriental Region and in several subspecific variations, P. polytes males are monomorphic and nonmimetic whereas females may be polymorphic, with one male like nonmimetic form and usually one but sometimes two form(s) mimicking locally abundant Pachliopta models. The subspecies Papilio p. romulus in Sri Lanka and peninsular India has trimorphic females, with a male like form (cyrus) and two mimetic forms (polytes, also known as stichius, and romulus) ( Ford, 1975, Kunte, 2000 and Wallace, 1865). Papilio dardanus: males of this African species are monomorphic and nonmimetic in several subspecific variations whereas females in most populations are polymorphic, mimicking Danaus, Amauris, Acraea, Bematistes and day flying moth models. Only the subspecies in Madagascar (illustrated in the bottom row), Grande Comore Island and Abyssinia have male like nonmimetic females 10
Island of Trinidad Wassmanian mimicry Ant Mimicing spiders (right: Synemosyna formica) 11
Rove beetle: Paederus littoralis (Wassmanian mimic of ants) Aggressive Mimicry Photuris sp. Photinus sp. Female Photuris attract male Photinus as prey. 12
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