Top: An ant in Mozambique Bottom: An ant-mimicking spider, Myrmarachne
Ant mimicry or myrmecomorphy is mimicry of ants by other organisms; it has evolved over 70 times. Ants are abundant all over the world, and potential predators that rely on vision to identify their prey, such as birds and wasps, normally avoid them, because they are either unpalatable or aggressive. Some arthropods mimic ants to escape predation (Batesian mimicry), while some predators of ants, especially spiders, mimic them anatomically and behaviourally in aggressive mimicry. Ant mimicry has existed almost as long as ants themselves; the earliest ant mimics in the fossil record appear in the mid-Cretaceous alongside the earliest ants.
In myrmecophily, mimic and model live commensally together; in the case of ants, the mimic is an inquiline in the ants' nest. Such mimics may in addition be Batesian or aggressive mimics. To overcome ants' powerful defences, mimics may imitate ants chemically with ant-like pheromones, visually, or by imitating an ant's surface microstructure to defeat the ants' tactile inspections.
Antmimicry or myrmecomorphy is mimicry of ants by other organisms; it has evolved over 70 times. Ants are abundant all over the world, and potential predators...
Batesian mimicry is a form of mimicry where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a predator of...
a close resemblance to ants. The nature of this antmimicry (myrmecomorphy) varies, with some cases involving Batesian mimicry, where the mimic reduces...
evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between...
Aggressive mimicry is a form of mimicry in which predators, parasites, or parasitoids share similar signals, using a harmless model, allowing them to avoid...
predator of velvet ants, while the whiptail is not. The aposematic coloration of velvet ants often corresponds to a specific Müllerian mimicry ring consisting...
advantage. The process is important in antmimicry where species that do not look like ants are accepted into the ant colony. In 1960, Dethier, Brown, and...
predators. Known ant-spider mimicry: Castianeira cingulata – short carpenter ants Castianeira longipalpa – myrmicine or ponerine ants Castianeira memnonia...
velvet ant species comprise one of the most intricate Mullerian mimicry rings in the natural world, being divided into eight separate rings of mimicry. These...
ants (see Antmimicry) Black Ant, a Marvel Comics character who is a Life Model Decoy of Eric O'Grady Ant List of ant genera (alphabetical) Ant (disambiguation)...
In plant biology, Vavilovian mimicry (also crop mimicry or weed mimicry) is a form of mimicry in plants where a weed evolves to share one or more characteristics...
In evolutionary biology, mimicry in plants is where a plant organism evolves to resemble another organism physically or chemically, increasing the mimic's...
in antmimicry. Chemical mimicry exists within many of the different forms of mimicry such as aggressive, protective, Batesian, and Müllerian mimicry and...
Synemosyna walk on the outer edges of leaves in the same way as Pseudomyrmex. Antmimicry in many spiders and other arthropods may be for protection from predators...
terrestrial mimicry is found in ant-mimicking spiders. These mimics are capable of antennal illusions and similar gait patterns as an ant, which is shown...
such as myrmecomorphy – antmimicry - and chemical mimicry to infiltrate ant nests, usually to prey on food supplies or the ants themselves. Aribates javensis...
Creobroter resemble ants during their early nymph stages. Antmimicry is a useful defense against predation for the young, as most ants are relatively unpalatable...
animals such as ants, termites, and bumblebees. Examples include the large blue butterfly, Phengaris arion, its larvae employing antmimicry to parasitise...
taxonomically distant. Ants are dangerous, small, and rich in distasteful and harmful compounds, making them difficult prey and favouring antmimicry for defence...
species, Myrmecomantis atra, commonly known as the ant mantis. It is a species that relies upon antmimicry for protection even as an adult.[citation needed]...
Marcio R.; Del-Claro, Kleber (2002). "Male-male agonistic behavior and ant-mimicry in a Neotropical richardiid (Diptera: Richardiidae)". Studies on Neotropical...
and raises them until pupation. Broodiness Host-parasite mimicry Kleptoparasite Slave-making ant Polistes semenowi was mistakenly named Polistes sulcifer...
Pranburia is a monotypic genus of Southeast Asian ant mimicking corinnid sac spiders containing the single species, Pranburia mahannopi. Christa L. Deeleman-Reinhold...
(1974). "A Batesian Ant-Mimicry Complex from the Mountain Pine Ridge of British Honduras, with an Example of Transformational Mimicry". The American Midland...
species, is the imitation of ants in the form of Batesian mimicry. To do this, the species imitates the movements of ants and also mimics them visually...
December 2012). "Repeated evolution in overlapping mimicry rings among North American velvet ants". Nature Communications. 3 (1): 1272. Bibcode:2012NatCo...
types of mimicry are Batesian and Müllerian, the first involving one-sided exploitation, the second providing mutual benefit. Batesian mimicry is an exploitative...
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