A few cases of mimicry have been recorded in birds.
A few possible cases of aggressive mimicry are enumerated in the following summary of some of the recorded cases of mimicry in different classes of the animal kingdom; but the phenomenon is of comparatively rare occurrence, and the supposed instances may be susceptible of other interpretations, excluding them altogether from mimicry, or bringing them under the Batesian or Miillerian interpretation of the phenomenon.
A simple illustration will serve to explain these two aspects of mimicry and to show the advantage in the struggle for existence that mimicry confers upon the species concerned.
Although mimicry in the Lepidoptera has been carried to a greater extreme in South America than in any other country of the world, remarkable instances of it have taken place in the Ethiopian and Oriental regions.
Although, like protective resemblance, quite independent of affinity between the organisms concerned in the likeness, mimicry occurs most commonly between animals structurally similar, and therefore related, to one another, the relationship may be close or remote.
Among mammalia there are no certain cases of mimicry known.
An example of the latter occurs in Singapore where the vicious red spinning-ant (Oecophylla smaragdina) is mimicked by the larva of a Noctuid moth and by spiders belonging to two distinct families, namely, Saltiicus plataleoides (Salticidae) and Amyciaea forticeps (Thomisidae), there being no reason to suppose that either the moth larva or the spiders are protected forms. Mimetic aggregations of species similar to those mentioned above have been found in other countries; but the instances cited are sufficient to show how widespread are the influences of mimicry and how profoundly it has modified the insect fauna of various parts of the world.
An important phenomenon connected with insect mimicry is the convergence of several species in the same area towards a common type of coloration and shape, exhibited by one or more than one protected form.
Analogous cases are supplied by the mimicry that exists between some of the orioles (Mimeta) and the friar-birds (Philemon or Tropidorhynchus) of the Austro-Malayan Islands.
Another instance of mimicry affecting the larval form is supplied by the moth Endromis versicolor, the caterpillars of which resemble the inedible larvae of saw-flies.
Apparently the only instances of mimicry known amongst reptiles occur amongst snakes; and in all the cases quoted by Wallace harmless snakes mimic venomous species.
Bates offered no satisfactory explanation of the resemblance between these two genera and others of the same protected sub-families; but he did not hesitate to ascribe the resemblance to them presented by the Pierine, Dismorphia (Leptalis) orise, to mimicry, believing Dismorphia to be unprotected and noting that it departed widely in the matter of coloration from typical members of the sub-family to which it belongs.
But if it be discovered, as is possible, that the drone-fly is also inedible, the mimicry must be ascribed to the Mullerian category, and the reason for it becomes less evident.
But since ants are not persecuted by these two families of Hymenoptera, the greatest enemies spiders have to contend with, it is evident that mimicry of ants is of supreme advantage to spiders.
Coleoptera (beetles) supply instances of mimicry of ants, wasps and Ichneumonids, and some defenceless forms of this order mimic others that are protected.
Comparatively few cases of mimicry in the Neuroptera have been observed.
Considering, however, the numbers of venomous and innocuous snakes that occur in most tropical countries, it might be supposed that mimicry in this order of reptiles would be of commoner occurrence than appears to be the case.
Cullen's eldest son Robert became a Scottish judge in 1796 under the title of Lord Cullen, and was known for his powers of mimicry.
Garrick brought to the meetings his inexhaustible pleasantry, his incomparable mimicry, and his consummate knowledge of stage effect.
He's also a highly entertaining companion, with a gift for accurate mimicry which can make you ache with laughter.
Hence it is probable that this case of mimicry is purely of a protective and not of an aggressive nature and serves to save the flies from destruction by insectivorous enemies.
Hence it may be inferred that the insects which imitate ants profit in the same way that spiders do from this form of mimicry.
Hence the resemblances belonging to the first category are commonly termed "Batesian mimicry," and those belonging to the second category " Mullerian mimicry," or more properly " Mullerian resemblance."
However, more recently analyzed data have indicated that the viceroy is also unpalatable and thus the pair is an example of Müllerian mimicry.
If so, the likeness must be regarded as an instance of Miillerian mimicry.
If the view that the sole is protected by the blackness of the pectoral fin resembling the blackness of the dorsal fin of the weever, be correct, these fishes furnish an instance of Batesian mimicry.
If this be the case the two species probably furnish an instance of true Mullerian mimicry.
In other words the insects entering into the combination may furnish instances of Batesian and of Mullerian mimicry.
In the above-cited historical instance of mimicry amongst some South American Lepidoptera which formed the foundation of Bates' theory, species of butterflies, belonging to the Ithomiine genus Itura and the Danaine genus Thyridia, both unpalatable forms, resemble each other.
In the majority of cases both model and mimic belong alike to the Lepidoptera, and it is often uncertain whether both are inedible (Mullerian mimicry) or whether inedibility is the attribute only of the model (Batesian mimicry).
It has been claimed that the resemblance between some of the Oriental tree-shrews of the genus Tupaia and squirrels comes under the category of aggressive mimicry, the tupaias being enabled by their likeness to approach and pounce upon small birds or other animals which, mistaking them for the vegetable-feeding squirrels, make no effort to get out of the way.
It has therefore been suggested by some and taken for granted by others that the resemblance comes under the category of aggressive mimicry and that the ants are deluded by this resemblance into regarding the spiders as members of their own species.
It is amongst Arthropods, however - and especially amongst insects - that mimicry, both Batesian and Miillerian, occurs in greatest profusion and perfection.
It shows how much the gift of writing is, in the early stages of its development, the gift of mimicry.
Mimicry is a special form of protective resemblance, differing from ordinary protective resemblance as exemplified by the similarity of the resting goat-sucker to a piece of bark or of leafand stick-insects to the objects after which they are named, in that the imitated object belongs to the animal kingdom and not to the vegetable kingdom or to inorganic nature.
Mimicry We are all good mimicry We are all good mimics; otherwise accents wouldn't exist at all.
Now, Coccinellidae (ladybirds) are known to be highly distasteful to most insectivorous mammals and birds, and snails would be quite unfit food for the Pompilid or Ichneumonid larvae, so that the reason for the mimicry in these cases is also perfectly clear.
Numerous other cases of mimicry between Diptera and Hymenoptera might be cited.
Of the multitudes of cases of mimicry between different species of Lepidoptera, a few only can be selected for description.
One interesting phenomenon in spider-life seems to be directly and certainly traceable to this influence, and that is mimicry of ants.
One of the most perfect cases of mimicry in birds is presented by a Madagascar thrush or babbler (Tylas eduardi), which resembles feather for feather a shrike (Xenopirostris polleni), from the same island.
Others think that motor mimicry is primitive empathy and if we could explain imitation we would be on the way to explaining empathy.
Over and over again extended knowledge on this point and inferences drawn from other facts have shown the certainty or probability of examples of mimicry being in reality " Mullerian," which were previously accepted without question as " Batesian."
Pseudaposemasy is Batesian mimicry.
Significantly, postcolonial theorists have seen mimicry as bordering on mockery, ' since it can appear to parody whatever it mimics.
Since belief in the adequacy of the two theories, above outlined, to account for the facts they profess to explain, depends ultimately upon the testimony that can be brought forward of the usefulness of warning characters, of the deception of mimicry and of the capacity for learning by experience possessed by enemies, it is necessary to give some of the evidence that has been accumulated on these points.
Since many of the insects of the order Hemiptera are distasteful, the mimicry of the bug (Megapetus) is in this case probably Mullerian or synaposematic; the grasshopper (Myrmecophana), on the other hand, is probably edible and the mimicry is Batesian or pseudaposematic. This is a simple case consisting of a small number of component species.
So far as our information at present extends the resemblance between these two insects is a simple case of mimicry in the Batesian sense of the word.
Some cases of genuine mimicry, however, are known in the order.
Some observations, however, of Guy Marshall on the inedibility of certain birds suggest that the resemblance between cuckoos a'nd hawks on the one hand and cuckoos and drongos on the other may be susceptible of another explanation in full agreement with the theory of mimicry as propounded by Bates.
Spiders furnish numerous instances of mimicry.
Still more curious is the mimicry of another of these insects from Venezuela which is found in company with a leaf-cutting ant (Oecodoma cephalotes) of that country.
Synaposemasy is Mullerian mimicry.
The arboreal life of the tropical forests has developed the treeclimbing habit among snakes as well as among frogs and toads, and also the habit of mimicry, their colour being in harmony with the foliage or bark of the trees which form their " hunting-grounds."
The difference between the two phenomena is essential and evident; but without experimental information as to palatability it is impossible to know with certainty to which of the two a particular case of mimicry is to be assigned.
The first is the occurrence of mimicry only in the female sex.
The last and the worst of the Cid ballads are those which betray by their frigid conceits and feeble mimicry of the antique the false taste and essentially unheroic spirit of the age of Philip II.
The mimicry of these insects therefore is synaposematic; but some, at all events, of the flies like the Bombylid Exoprosopa umbrosa, probably form pseudaposematic elements in the group. Into another category Hymenoptera enter not as models but as mimics, the models being inedible Malacodermatous beetles mostly belonging to the genus Lycus and characterized by orange coloration set off by a large black patch upon the posterior end of the elytra and a smaller black spot upon the thorax.
The phenomena, known as "protective resemblance," or similarity to inanimate objects or vegetation, and the kindred phenomenon of "mimicry," or beneficial likeness to certain protected species of animals, are common in the group. In these particulars, considered in their entirety, spiders show a marked contrast to other Arachnida, such as the scorpions, pedipalps, book-scorpions and so-called harvest spiders, which by comparison are remarkably uniform, within the limits of the orders, in structure, habits and other respects.
The results of this experiment with the baboon and of those with the birds are precisely what would be expected if the theory of mimicry is true.
The same explanation no doubt applies to the mimicry, both in Borneo and South Africa, of hairy bees of the family Xylocopidae by Asilid flies of the genus Hyperechia, and also to other cases of mimicry of Hymenoptera as well as of inedible beetles of the family Lycidae by Diptera.
The second noteworthy phenomenon is the mimicry of more than one protected species by members of a single species.
The significance of this phenomenon, as already stated, was first explained by Fritz Milller; but although the term " Mullerian mimicry " has been assigned to this and similar instances, they are not strictly speaking cases of mimicry at all but of warning coloration.
The study of this intricate case is not yet completed and it is at present unknown whether it is an instance of Batesian or Mullerian mimicry.
The term mimicry has also been applied to resemblances of a different kind from the two enumerated above - resemblances, that is to say, by which predaceous species are supposed to be enabled to approach or mix without detection with animals they prey upon or victimize in other ways.
There is strong indirect, and some direct, evidence that this is achieved through chemical mimicry.
There seem to be no reasons for doubting that these are cases of genuine protective mimicry.
These antibodies will be used in the study of molecular mimicry in the context of autoimmune uveitis.
This is a not uncommon occurrence, and in the case of Batesian mimicry the explanation is probably this.
This may, however, be an instance of Miillerian rather than of Batesian mimicry, the beetle being itself inedible; for Shelford has stated his conviction that the Bornean representatives of the sub-family (Clytinae), to which Clytus arietis belongs, are all highly distasteful and are warningly coloured, as are members of this sub-family from other parts of the world.
This phenomenon is termed " aggressive mimicry " as opposed to the Batesian and Mullerian phenomena, which are termed " protective mimicry."
Through its witty mimicry, Thank You also acts as a parody of both monumental statuary and decorative ' corporate ' sculpture.
To others they are symbolic of cunningness, mimicry or mischievousness.
We are testing the hypothesis that all Maculinea and Microdon species employ chemical mimicry to a varying degree.
Were this to take place the purpose of the mimicry would be abortive, because enemies would probably not refrain from slaughter if even every alternate capture proved palatable.