Plate from Bates 1861, illustrating Batesian mimicry between Dismorphia species (top row and third row) and various Ithomiini (Nymphalidae) (second and bottom rows). A non-Batesian species, Pseudopieris nehemia, is in the centre.
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 them both. It is named after the English naturalist Henry Walter Bates, who worked on butterflies in the rainforests of Brazil.
Batesian mimicry is the most commonly known and widely studied of mimicry complexes, such that the word mimicry is often treated as synonymous with Batesian mimicry. There are many other forms however, some very similar in principle, others far separated. It is often contrasted with Müllerian mimicry, a form of mutually beneficial convergence between two or more harmful species. However, because the mimic may have a degree of protection itself, the distinction is not absolute. It can also be contrasted with functionally different forms of mimicry. Perhaps the sharpest contrast here is with aggressive mimicry where a predator or parasite mimics a harmless species, avoiding detection and improving its foraging success.
The imitating species is called the mimic, while the imitated species (protected by its toxicity, foul taste or other defenses) is known as the model. The predatory species mediating indirect interactions between the mimic and the model is variously known as the [signal] receiver, dupe or operator. By parasitising the honest warning signal of the model, the Batesian mimic gains an advantage, without having to go to the expense of arming itself. The model, on the other hand, is disadvantaged, along with the dupe. If impostors appear in high numbers, positive experiences with the mimic may result in the model being treated as harmless. At higher frequency there is also a stronger selective advantage for the predator to distinguish mimic from model. For this reason, mimics are usually less numerous than models, an instance of frequency-dependent selection. Some mimetic populations have evolved multiple forms (polymorphism), enabling them to mimic several different models and thereby to gain greater protection. Batesian mimicry is not always perfect. A variety of explanations have been proposed for this, including limitations in predators' cognition.
While visual signals have attracted most study, Batesian mimicry can employ deception of any of the senses; some moths mimic the ultrasound warning signals sent by unpalatable moths to bat predators, constituting auditory Batesian mimicry, while some weakly electric fish appear to mimic the electrolocation signals of strongly electric fish, probably constituting electrical mimicry.
Batesianmimicry is a form of mimicry where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a predator...
here entail mimicry of animals protected by warning coloration: Batesianmimicry, where a harmless mimic poses as harmful. Müllerian mimicry, where two...
(Batesianmimicry), while some predators of ants, especially spiders, mimic them anatomically and behaviourally in aggressive mimicry. Ant mimicry has...
well-known Batesian and Müllerian forms of mimicry, where the mimic shares outward characteristics with an aposematic or harmful model. In Batesianmimicry, the...
primarily on bumblebees. M. bomboides is a noteworthy instance of Batesianmimicry given its close resemblance to its prey, the bumblebee. These bees...
chemical or physical defences is not the only way to deter predators. In Batesianmimicry, a mimicking species resembles an aposematic model closely enough to...
pollinating insect, Batesian, where a harmless species deter predators by mimicking the characteristics of a harmful species, and leaf mimicry, where a plant...
ant mimicry. Chemical mimicry exists within many of the different forms of mimicry such as aggressive, protective, Batesian, and Müllerian mimicry and...
that practice mimicry. The tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus), exhibits a female-limited polymorphism for Batesianmimicry and others, such...
misippus, P. poggei, M. marshalli, and P. dardanus in east Africa. Batesianmimicry is only effective so long as the mimic is less common than the model...
mimics a cleaner, also occurs. Predatory cheating is analogous to Batesianmimicry, as where a harmless hoverfly mimics a stinging wasp, though with the...
2020. Savage, Wesley K.; Mullen, Sean P. (2009). "A single origin of Batesianmimicry among hybridizing populations of admiral butterflies (Limenitis arthemis)...
mimic multiple host species, often simultaneously. This is a form of Batesianmimicry, when a harmless species mimics a harmful one to ward off predators...
it after encountering red efts, an example of Batesianmimicry. Other species exhibit similar mimicry. In California, the palatable yellow-eyed salamander...
see (crypsis), or may be mistaken for other objects (mimesis). In Batesianmimicry, harmless animals may appear to be distasteful or poisonous. In automimicry...
among snakes. Batesianmimicry is rare among vertebrates but found in some reptiles (particularly snakes) and amphibians. Müllerian mimicry is found in...
parts of Chile (Aneriophora aureorufa) seem to use B. dahlbomii as a Batesianmimicry template. A. aureorufa thus, resembles/mimics certain aspects of B...
types of mimicry are Batesian and Müllerian, the first involving one-sided exploitation, the second providing mutual benefit. Batesianmimicry is an exploitative...
Locomotor mimicry is a subtype of Batesianmimicry in which animals avoid predation by mimicking the movements of another species phylogenetically separated...
frequent models for Batesianmimicry by non-stinging insects, and are themselves involved in mutually beneficial Müllerian mimicry of other distasteful...
Other nonvenomous snakes resemble the Texas coral snake as a form of Batesianmimicry. In the United States only, all three species of venomous coral snakes...
protective Müllerian mimicry. Harmless insects such as hoverflies often derive protection from resembling bumblebees, in Batesianmimicry, and may be confused...
Harcombe, William R.; Pfennig, Karin S. (2001). "Frequency-dependent Batesianmimicry". Nature. 410 (6826): 323. Bibcode:2001Natur.410..323P. doi:10.1038/35066628...
themselves are not unpalatable and the pipevine are, this is an example of Batesianmimicry. If predators know that the pipevine swallowtail has a foul taste,...
required for warning signals to function. The mechanism, analogous to Batesianmimicry, is found in insects such as the monarch butterfly. In another form...
(Müllerian mimicry), the list includes some flies, moths, and beetles (Batesianmimicry). Yellowjackets' closest relatives, the hornets, closely resemble them...
discharge of the electric eel, Electrophorus. This is hypothesized to be Batesianmimicry of the powerfully-protected electric eel. Brachyhypopomus males produce...
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