A Monarch and a wannabee (Viceroy). Or maybe not...The Monarch and Viceroy are often cited as the poster child examples of Batesian mimicry where one species tastes bad (Monarch) and the other palatable look alike (Viceroy) gains protection from predators by mimicking the toxic one (Monarch). But there is a body of research that suggests the Monarch-Viceroy mimicry relationship might not be quite so simplistic because the Viceroy caterpillars feed on willow leaves that contain very bitter compounds and may be relatively unpalatable on their own. In any case, evolution is awesome, because it is highly unlikely these two butterflies came to be look-alikes simply by chance.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 22:37:03 +0000
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