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Asynchrony in daily activity patterns of butterfly models and mimics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 January 2007

Carlos E. G. Pinheiro
Affiliation:
Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade de Brasília – UnB, 70910-900 Brasília, DF, Brazil

Abstract

Bates' theory of mimicry (Bates 1862) postulates that vertebrate predators avoid attacks on chemically defended butterflies, and a profitable species, usually referred to as the mimic, can obtain protection by resembling one or more unpalatable models. The evolution of Batesian mimicry requires that predators meet, taste and learn to avoid the models before meeting the mimics. For this reason, some authors have adopted the assumption that mimic population sizes must be smaller than the models' populations (Fisher 1930, Huheey 1980, Lindström et al. 1997).

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
2007 Cambridge University Press

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