Mimicry: Being Masters of Disguise

By: Cassidy Herbster, Cari Marota and Malik Mason 

First to explain mimicry, it is copying another insect or inanimate object to aid in avoidance of predators and/or catching prey. There are two types of mimicry: batesian and mullerian. Batesian refers to when only the insect who is mimicking benefits while mullerian is when both the model and mimicking insect benefits. Most common way is with coloring. The colors of the bad tasting, venomous, or vicious insect is copied by a different insect to avoid being eaten by a predator, though the copy cat doesn't actually have that defense, it just appears so.  They also use coloring to blend in to catch prey or avoid being prey.  The insect being mimicked is called the model. Insects will not always only mimic other insects, but creatures such as arachnids or reptiles. Mimicry might not be for the whole lifetime of the insect. For example, the larvae of an insect could mimic a predator but grow up and not use mimicry as such a strong defence. As seen below, the larvae of a moth mimics a snake but once it grows wings the defense may not be as efficient.

Specific examples of the mimicry mechanisms used by dead leaf mantis and red-headed flies are explained below.

Eldie, Ron. "Dead Leaf Mantis." Flickr. Yahoo!, 19 Sept. 2012. Web. 04 Feb. 2017.

The dead leaf mantis is a perfect example of mimicry because it mimics a dead leaf, obviously because of the name. The female is about 9 cm long, while the male is around 7-8 cm. The dead leaf mantis has a shield on its prothorax to make it look even more like a dead leaf. They can be easily scared, so unlike most mantis showing their front legs, the dead leaf mantis plays dead and sometimes even sways back and forth to show off more camouflage if threatened. The benefit of  their mimic is to hide from predators and/or become the predator and hide from their prey to easily catch them.

Mozambique Diary: Red-headed flies. Piotr Naskrecki’s photo blog.

Red-headed flies are another example of an insect that uses mimicry. The specific aid that they use is colorization, which can be seen by the red head. The model insect that is mimicked is the blister beetle from the genus Mylabri. The beetles are able to cause blisters on the skin of humans that can eventually be deadly. These beetles have a black body with red stripes on the wings, which is why the flies have a black body and red head. Since the coloring of the flies are black and red, it allows the flies to not be prey. Since the flies can pass as venomous beetles, they are often seen just hanging on trees. The photo above shows the flies hanging on leaves out in the open in Mozambique. This photo alone shows how well of a defense mechanism mimicry is due to the fact that the flies are hanging out in the open without the fear of becoming prey.

Per the website The Dodo these are the top 10 insect mimickers.

1. The Larva of the Hemeroplanes Triptolemus Moth Imitating A Snake (snake top left)

2. The Oak Leaf Butterfly Imitating.. A Leaf

3. The Hover Fly Imitating a Bee

4. The Atlas Moth's Wings Imitating A Cobra

5. The Lygodium Spider Moth Imitating A Spider

6. The Phyllium Giganteum not even imitating, but practically BEING a walking leaf

7. The Phasmatodea Imitating A Stick

8. The Swallowtail Caterpillar imitating bird POOP

9. The Sycamore Moth Imitating Tree Lichen

10. The Monarch Butterfly Imitating an.. Owl?

References

Mimicry in Insects. (n.d.). Retrieved February 08, 2017, from http://www.angelfire.com/ab8/mimicry/

Insect Mimicry: Top 10 Masters Of Disguise,  The Dodo, MartianMaggie, June 22, 2015 from https://www.thedodo.com/insect-mimicry-top-10-masters-of-disguise-1211559271.html

Dead Lead Mantis . (n.d.). Retrieved February 08, 2017, from https://www.keepinginsects.com/praying-mantis/species/dead-leaf-mantis/

Eldie, R. (2012, September 19). Dead Leaf Mantis. Retrieved February 08, 2017, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/roneldie/8002821120?ytcheck=1

Naskrecki, P. (2015, March 13). Mozambique Diary: Red-headed flies. Retrieved February 08, 2017, from https://thesmallermajority.com/2015/03/12/mozambique-diary-red-headed-flies/