Mimicry

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.