Mimicry is the evolved resemblance of one organism to something else, often another species, that lets it deceive predators, prey, or other animals that mistake it for the model it resembles. A mimicry relationship involves a mimic, a model it imitates, and a dupe that is deceived, typically a predator, and the resemblance can work through sight, sound, scent, touch, or even electric signals. In Batesian mimicry a harmless species resembles a dangerous or distasteful one, as when harmless hoverflies resemble stinging wasps; in Mullerian mimicry, several genuinely defended species converge on a similar warning appearance, as different wasp and bee species do, so that the cost of educating predators is shared. Natural selection favors these resemblances whenever a dupe treats the mimic the way it treats the model, and mimicry typically evolves in two steps, a large initial mutation producing a rough resemblance followed by smaller changes that refine it.
Facts
PeriodicityNot a recurring event: once a resemblance evolves in a lineage it becomes a standing trait, not something that occurs at intervals. 1 ScaleSpans from insect-scale visual mimicry, such as a harmless hoverfly resembling a wasp, to whole-organism mimicry such as an orchid flower resembling a female bee. 1 First DescribedThe word dates to 1637 and was first used in a zoological sense by the English entomologists William Kirby and William Spence in 1823. 1 Identification
Distinguishing AppearanceA close resemblance, in look, sound, scent or behavior, between the mimic and its model, close enough that a receiver such as a predator, prey or pollinator responds to the mimic as though it were the model. 1 Connections
Associated With
Source Mimicry (Wikipedia)
Source Mimicry (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Mimicry (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead section, second sentence
Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species.
Lead section, on Pouyannian mimicry
in Pouyannian mimicry, an orchid flower is the mimic, resembling a female bee, its model
Etymology section
Use of the word mimicry dates to 1637. It derives from the Greek term mimetikos, "imitative", in turn from mimetos, the verbal adjective of mimeisthai, "to imitate". "Mimicry" was first used in zoology by the English entomologists William Kirby and William Spence in 1823.
Lead section, on the model, mimic and dupe relationship
a mimic resembles a model, so as to deceive a dupe, all three being of different species.
Associated With: Batesian mimicry, Lead section, on Batesian mimicry as the simplest case
In the simplest case, as in Batesian mimicry, a mimic resembles a model, so as to deceive a dupe, all three being of different species.
Associated With: Müllerian mimicry, Lead section, contrasting deceptive and honest mimicry
Most types of mimicry, including Batesian, are deceptive, as the mimics are not harmful, but Müllerian mimicry, where different harmful species resemble each other, is honest, as when species of wasps and of bees all have genuinely aposematic warning coloration.
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