Nature’s Halloween

By Anonymous -
Nature’s Halloween 
Stephanie Young and Abigail Chitwood 


Halloween is here! A time when many dress up as ghouls, goblins,
princesses or superheroes and venture out for an evening full of trick-or-treats.
This yearly celebration allows for the mimicry of another for entertainment and fun.
Many insects don’t need a special holiday for this, they rely on mimicry
daily as a means for survival. They can disguise themselves as plants, leaves
or even other species. Coloration and patterns are used to help them blend
into the background or give the illusion of being something else.
Giving these insects an award for best dressed this Halloween!
Mimicry is when one organism shares common characteristics with another
organism. Though mimicry is most often thought of as visual, it can also
involve behavioral, the use of pheromones or audio sounds. It is used as a
means of protection from potential predators, usually by confusing them
therefore they avoid the mimic. There are three main types of insect mimicry -
Bastesian, Mullerian and Mertensian.  
Batesian mimicry is when a harmless insect mimics as a noxious, or harmful insect.
An example of this type of mimicry is found in many insect families
including Syrphidae. It is made up of approximately 6,000 species of Hoverflies.
These harmless flies resemble a more dangerous wasp or bee. Many
hoverflies have yellow and black or brown stripes and may include a dense
coat of hair. A distinguishing feature between the two is seen in the wings. 
Hoverflies have only one set of wings while the wasps and bees possess
two sets of wings.  
Image result for hoverfly mimicry wing differences
https://inspiringplans.com/hoverfly-vs-wasp
There are many butterflies species that exhibit Batesian mimicry.
Philippine cockroaches mimic the noxious ladybug beetles.
The Typocerus lunulatus, a type of longhorn beetle, mimics Scoliid wasps
to avoid predators. Some species of robber flies mimic bumblebees.
There are multiple species of swallowtail butterflies and some silk moths
that mimic the Pipevine Swallowtail. The Pipevine Swallowtail creates
acid which it uses against its predators. These butterflies and moths have
used this defense mechanism to their advantage by evolving to resemble
the Pipevine Swallowtail. The Clubbed Mydas or Mydas clavatus mimics
spider wasps by resembling them visually but also copying the spider wasps
motion when stinging their prey. The Orange-patched Smoky Moth and
the black-and-yellow lichen moth both mimic the coloration of the end
band net-wing beetle. The moths mimic the beetle due to how
poisonous they are. 

Müllerian mimicry is where two or more harmful species mutually
advertise themselves as harmful. Viceroy butterflies and monarch
butterflies are both poisonous Müllerian mimics. Many species of
bumblebees exhibit Müllerian mimicry. They all similarly show black
strips with yellow bodies. These act as warning signs to predators that the
bees have a stinger. Velvet ants also exhibit Müllerian mimicry.
All of the twenty-one North American velvet ant genera and 302 of the
361 species show some kind of Müllerian mimicry

Mertensian mimicry is where a deadly mimic resembles a less harmful
but lesson-teaching model. This type of mimicry is incredibly rare.
Some wasps exhibit this type of mimicry. There are also some butterflies
who exhibit this form of mimicry as well. Overall, mimicry can be incredibly
useful to species for various reasons. It is often used as a means to evade
predators by looking like other species or other individuals of the same
species. Mimicry has become a key evolutionary adaptation for a broad
range of species. One might even argue that mimicry is one of the most
important evolutionary adaptations. 

Works Cited 

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