Emsleyan mimicry, also called Mertensian mimicry, describes an unusual type of mimicry where a deadly prey mimics a less dangerous species.[1]
History
editEmsleyan mimicry was first proposed by M. G. Emsley[2] as a possible explanation for how a predator species could learn to avoid an aposematic phenotype of potentially dangerous animals, such as the coral snake, when the predator is likely to die on its first encounter. The theory was developed by the German biologist Wolfgang Wickler in a chapter of Mimicry in Plants and Animals,[3] who named it after the German herpetologist Robert Mertens.[4] Sheppard points out that Hecht and Marien had put forward a similar hypothesis ten years earlier.[5][6]
Mimicry of a less deadly species
editThe scenario for Emsleyan mimicry is a little more difficult to understand than for other types of mimicry, since in other types of mimicry it is usually the most harmful species that is the model. But if a predator dies, it cannot learn to recognize a warning signal, e.g., bright colours in a certain pattern. In other words, there is no advantage in being aposematic for an organism that is likely to kill any predator it succeeds in poisoning; such an animal is better off being camouflaged, to avoid attacks altogether. If, however, there were some other species that were harmful but not deadly as well as aposematic, the predator could learn to recognize its particular warning colours and avoid such animals. A deadly species could then profit by mimicking the less dangerous aposematic organism if this reduces the number of attacks.[5][6]
Non-Emsleyan mechanisms
editNon-Emsleyan mechanisms that achieve the observed result, namely that predators avoid extremely deadly prey, are possible. Proposed alternatives include observational learning and innate avoidance.[8][7] These provide alternative explanations to Emsleyan mimicry: if predators innately avoid a pattern then there is no need to suppose that the more deadly snake is mimicking the less deadly species in these cases.[9]
Observational learning
editOne mechanism is observational learning, for example through watching a conspecific die. The observing predator then remembers that the prey is deadly and avoids it. Jouventin and colleagues conducted exploratory tests on baboons in 1977 that suggested this was possible.[8]
Innate avoidance
editAnother possible mechanism is that a predator might not have to learn that a certain prey is harmful in the first place: it could have instinctive genetic programming to avoid certain signals. In this case, other organisms could benefit from this programming, and Batesian or Müllerian mimics of it could potentially evolve.[7] Some species indeed do innately recognize certain aposematic patterns. Hand-reared turquoise-browed motmots (Eumomota superciliosa), avian predators, instinctively avoid snakes with red and yellow rings.[7][10] Other colours with the same pattern, and even red and yellow stripes with the same width as rings, were tolerated. However, models with red and yellow rings were feared, with the birds flying away and giving alarm calls in some cases.[9]
The models would not have to be other snakes. Large red and black millipedes are common and foul-tasting; various species of these millipedes form Müllerian mimicry rings, and some are the models for mimicry in lizards.[10]
Coral snake system
editSome harmless milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum) subspecies, the moderately toxic false coral snakes (genus Erythrolamprus), and the deadly coral snakes (genus Micrurus) all have a red background color with black and either white or yellow rings. Over 115 species or some 18% of snakes in the New World are within this mimicry system.[10] In this system, Emsley stated that both the milk snakes and the deadly coral snakes are the mimics, whereas the false coral snakes are the models.[2]
It has been suggested that this system could be an instance of pseudomimicry, the similar colour patterns having evolved independently in similar habitats.[11]
References
edit- ^ Pasteur, G. (1982). "A Classificatory Review of Mimicry Systems". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 13: 169–199. doi:10.1146/annurev.es.13.110182.001125. JSTOR 2097066.
- ^ a b Emsley, M. G. (1966). "The mimetic significance of Erythrolamprus aesculapii ocellatus Peters from Tobago". Evolution. 20 (4): 663–64. doi:10.2307/2406599. JSTOR 2406599. PMID 28562911.
- ^ Wickler, Wolfgang (1968). Mimicry in plants and animals. McGraw-Hill.
- ^ Mertens, Robert (1956). "Das Problem der Mimikry bei Korallenschlangen". Zool. Jahrb. Syst (in German). 84: 541–76.
- ^ a b Hecht, M. K.; Marien, D. (1956). "The coral snake mimic problem: a reinterpretation". Journal of Morphology. 98 (2): 335–365. doi:10.1002/jmor.1050980207. S2CID 83825414.
- ^ a b Sheppard, P. M.; Wickler, Wolfgang (1969). "Review of Mimicry in plants and animals by Wolfgang Wickler". Journal of Animal Ecology. 38 (1): 243. doi:10.2307/2762. JSTOR 2762.
- ^ a b c d Smith, S. M. (1975). "Innate Recognition of Coral Snake Pattern by a Possible Avian Predator". Science. 187 (4178): 759–760. Bibcode:1975Sci...187..759S. doi:10.1126/science.187.4178.759. PMID 17795249. S2CID 41092574.
- ^ a b Jouventin, P.; Pasteur, G.; Cambefort, J. P. (1977). "Observational Learning of Baboons and Avoidance of Mimics: Exploratory Tests". Evolution. 31 (1): 214–218. doi:10.2307/2407558. JSTOR 2407558. PMID 28567722.
- ^ a b Greene, H. W.; McDiarmid, R. W. (1981). "Coral snake mimicry: Does it occur?". Science. 213 (4513): 1207–1212. Bibcode:1981Sci...213.1207G. doi:10.1126/science.213.4513.1207. PMID 17744739. S2CID 40138205.
- ^ a b c Quicke, Donald L. J. (2017). Mimicry, Crypsis, Masquerade and other Adaptive Resemblances. John Wiley. pp. 240–. ISBN 978-1118931516.
- ^ Grobman, Arnold B. (1978). "An Alternative Solution to the Coral Snake Mimic Problem (Reptilia, Serpentes, Elapidae)". Journal of Herpetology. 12 (1): 1–11. doi:10.2307/1563495. JSTOR 1563495.