Introduction to

Mimicry
Presented by:
Sean Brady
Matthew Forte
Michael Mourouzis
Lenora Overstreet
Dana Wilson

Introduction
Mimicry

refers to the similarities

between species.
Mimicry is a form of symbiosis where
a species may mimic the colors,
patterns, or even behavior of another
species for one of two reasons.

Introduction
1. either to be able to get closer to
unsuspecting prey or
2. in the case of a harmless species to
gain protection by imitating a
predator or poisonous species.

Introduction
Comparing

mimicry with camouflage

or deceptive behavior, protection by
mimicry is the most cost effective.
The mimicking species does not have
to change its behavior or stay
against a safe background to
disguise itself.

Introduction
It

can go about its daily life without

extra protections.
There are several described forms of
mimicry utilized by both predator
and prey:

Different Types of Mimicry

Batesian

mimicry
Muellerian mimicry
Wasmannian mimicry
Peckhamian mimicry
Self-mimicry

Batesian Mimicry
refers

to two or more species that

are similar in appearance, but only
one of which is armed with spines,
stingers, or toxic chemistry, while its
apparent that the double lacks these
traits

Batesian Mimicry
The

second species has no defense

other than resembling the
unpalatable species and is afforded
protection from certain predators by
its resemblance to the unpalatable
species, which the predator
associates with a certain appearance
and a bad experience.

Muellerian Mimicry
Refers

to two unpalatable species

that are mimics of each other with
conspicuous common coloration.

Muellerian Mimicry
All

mimics share the benefits of the

coloration since the predator will
recognize the coloration of an
unpalatable group after a few bad
experiences.

Muellerian Mimicry
Since

several species have the same

appearance to the predator, the loss
of life will be spread out over several
species, reducing the impact on each
individual species

Muellerian Mimicry
An

example of such Muellerian

mimicry in Collembola is the mimicry
of Sminthurus viridis and an aphid
species

Wasmannian Mimicry
This

is when the mimic resembles its

host in order to live within the same
nest or structure.
For example, several jumping spiders
closely resemble ants.

Wasmannian Mimicry
This

works well in order to get "lost in

the crowd" and thus avoid predators.

Peckhamian Mimicry
This

is also known as aggressive

mimicry, in which the predator
mimics its prey to capture it.

Self-mimicry
This

refers to species that have one

body part that mimics another to
increase survival during an attack or
helps predators appear innocuous to
allow the prey extra seconds to
escape.

Conclusion
Have

you ever been tricked by

something that was fake?
List examples in your notes..

Conclusion
Sometimes

we think sparkly jewels

are diamonds, but they are really just
glass.

Conclusion
Other

times we believe that our

baseball card is signed by our
favorite player, but it is only a copy.

Conclusion
As

we have learned through this

discussion, animals can make copies
too.
Can you list some of the examples
we talked about in this lesson?
Please do so in your notes at this
point.

Conclusion
Some

copies are so good that we

don't know that they aren't the real
thing. Smaller, weaker animals have
to imitate stronger animals to stay
alive.
Can you list some examples that we
have discussed? Please do so in your
notes.

Conclusion
As

we have learned, these "copycats"

are called MIMICS. If insects or other
less powerful animals can trick their
predators into thinking they are a
different animal by the sounds they
make, or the colors on their body,
they just might survive a little longer.