Evolutionary implications of deception in mimicry and masquerade

Type of content
Journal Article
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Degree name
Publisher
University of Canterbury. Biological Sciences
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
Date
2014
Authors
Nelson, X.J.
Abstract

Aggressive mimicry occurs when an organism resembles some aspect of another organism (the model) in order to obtain prey through its deceptive resemblance. This may function either through the overt response of the receiver or through the lack of response of the receiver. Reviewing selected examples, I discuss some of the difficulties in ascribing a model for the mimic. I also discuss how a single animal can have multiple ploys in its armoury of deceptive signals, thus belonging within two or more categories of deceptive signalling. In addition to aggressive mimicry, these may include crypsis or camouflage, masquerade (mimicry of inanimate objects), and Batesian or protective mimicry. Each of these examples of deception has multiple evolutionary pathways, and some deceptive signals may be more costly to receivers than others, but no single organism is subject to a single selection pressure, leading to the reality that many evolutionary pathways contribute to the diversity we see around us. New technologies are opening new channels of investigation into deceptive signaling in many different sensory modalities, and this is reflected in the recent increase in studies investigating the structure and function of deceptive signals. In turn, these studies are beginning to expose the fascinating complexity of deceptive signaling systems, allowing us to discover the myriad, non-mutually exclusive, solutions that can be selected for to obtain prey

Description
Citation
Nelson, XJ (2014) Evolutionary implications of deception in mimicry and masquerade. Current Zoology, 60(1), pp. 6-15, 2014
Keywords
mimicry, masquerade, crypsis, deceptive communication, cleaner fish, pre-existing biases
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Fields of Research::31 - Biological sciences::3109 - Zoology::310901 - Animal behaviour
Field of Research::06 - Biological Sciences::0603 - Evolutionary Biology
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