In practise however, the difference between Batesian and Müllerian mimicry isn't black and white; there's actually a sliding scale of (un)palatability among mimetic species (ie: a mimetic species might be entirely harmless, just as dangerous as their model, or somewhere in-between) (Huheey, 1976).
An example of Müllerian mimicry is found in the Viceroy (Limenitis archippus) and Monarch (Danaus plexippus) butterflies shown in Figure 1, where both species are unpalatable. Until recently, the Viceroy was believed to be palatable - which would have made this relationship an example of Batesian mimicry (Ritland and Brower, 1991).
Figure 1: Similarities between Viceroy (top) and Monarch (bottom) butterflies.
While Batesian mimicry could be considered a form of antagonistic symbiosis (one species benefits at the expense of others), Müllerian mimicry is a mutualistic relationship between species. This is because mimic and model alike benefit from the shared 'advertisement' as it makes it easier for predators to recognize (and avoid) certain colourations/patterns in unpalatable prey species (Huheey, 1976); which, as it happens, also benefits the predator species .... Good guy Müllerian mimicry?
- Huheey, J. E. 1976, 'Studies in Warning Coloration and Mimicry. VII. Evolutionary Consequences of a Batesian-Müllerian Spectrum: A Model for Müllerian Mimicry', Evolution, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 86-93.
- Ritland, D. B. and Brower, L. P. 1991, 'The viceroy butterfly is not a batesian mimic', Nature, vol. 350, pp. 497-498.
- Figure 1: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/BatesMimButter.JPG, Photographer(s): D. Gordon, E. Robertson and Derek Ramsey, retrieved: 29/03/14
I find animal mimicry very interesting, it's amazing what species will do to survive.
ReplyDeleteNice comparison. The fine line between Batesian and Müllerian mimicry is definitely very fine indeed! Can you give another example, beside the monarch and viceroy example? One that isn’t very well known but could be illuminating for your readers. Nice post.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely! Another example would be the Poison Dart frogs of Northern Peru: http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2011/03/10/rsbl.2011.0039/F1.large.jpg
DeleteOr potentially a less-known example would be the millipedes of Northern America: http://www.pnas.org/content/106/24/9755/F1.large.jpg
Very nice overview Rhys :) I am also doing animal mimicry and I found a the original article (translated from German) by Fritz Muller. It is a very interesting read if you are interested. It goes into his initial formula he made to explain his theory why it benefits and that the less abundant species benefits more from their shared mimicry :)
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to if if you are interested. Unfortunately it's not the greatest quality though..
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/taxome/lit/muller_1879.pdf
Thanks Karen! That's certainly an interesting read (though, as you say, it's a shame about the quality) - it's great to read about his findings first hand. Thank you very much for sharing that! :)
Delete