Comments on: Mimicry

By: Reed Warblers, the European Cuckoo and the Evolution of Mimicry

Reed Warblers, the European Cuckoo and the Evolution of Mimicry — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 01:36:09 +0000

[…] are on to the other morph.I’ve written a brief overview of the evolutionary principle of Mimicry here. The famous bird experts, Thorogood and Davies, carried out an experiment which…reveal that […]

By: Jim Thomerson

Jim Thomerson — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 20:23:36 +0000

There is also sexual mimicry. The amazon molly, Poecilia formosa, is an all female parthenogenetic species which requires sperm activation (but no fertilization) of the eggs. They depend on male Poecilia latipinna mistaking them (one supposes) for P. latipinna females. This has been called sexual parasitism. The amazon mollies get fewer eggs activated then the P. latipinna females get fertilized, so they are not as successful in attracting males.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 16:27:53 +0000

Artor, I think he may still be doing that.

Jim: I’m pretty sure that is just called “within species” or “intra-species” mimicry.

By: Artor

Artor — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:46:57 +0000

I must correct one minor error. You stated that aggressive mimicry is not named for anyone. In fact, it is named after Professor Emilio Aggressi, who was known for his habit of dressing like his students so he could sneak into their mid-term parties. He’d then drink all their beer, and try to flunk students he’d found partying instead of studying for his exams.
Now you know.

By: Jim Thomerson

Jim Thomerson — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:09:04 +0000

There are fish species which have “sneaky” males which mimic females or juveniles and are thus able to participate in external fertilization spawning events without rousing the ire of normal males. These males are also sometimes called “supermales” because they have unusually large gonads. How should we classify this kind of mimicry?