Mimicry in plants and animals

Fülszöveg

Wolfgang Wickler, a leading authority on mimicry, is at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology at Seewiesen.
With 31 color and 22 black and white illustrations
The cover shows the distasteful model Atrophanura coon (left half) mimicked by a palatable and protected morph of PapiHo memnon (right half). Design by Hermann Kacher. 70100
LIFE SCIENCES
Wolfgang Wickler
Mimicry In plants and animals
,1. I
Many living things survive by pretending to look or behave ; y
like something else. Some edible butterflies, for instance, resemble inedible ones in order to deceive predatory birds. Conversely deception may benefit the predator: the angler fish dangles a lure in front of its mouth which looks like a worm and, when a small fish takes a bite at it, it gobbles the fish up. Such deception, or mimicry, is also practised byplants, as with the orchid that resembles a female bee so that a male bee will alight on it and effect pollination. The fact that one organism can enjoy... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Wolfgang Wickler, a leading authority on mimicry, is at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology at Seewiesen.
With 31 color and 22 black and white illustrations
The cover shows the distasteful model Atrophanura coon (left half) mimicked by a palatable and protected morph of PapiHo memnon (right half). Design by Hermann Kacher. 70100
LIFE SCIENCES
Wolfgang Wickler
Mimicry In plants and animals
,1. I
Many living things survive by pretending to look or behave ; y
like something else. Some edible butterflies, for instance, resemble inedible ones in order to deceive predatory birds. Conversely deception may benefit the predator: the angler fish dangles a lure in front of its mouth which looks like a worm and, when a small fish takes a bite at it, it gobbles the fish up. Such deception, or mimicry, is also practised byplants, as with the orchid that resembles a female bee so that a male bee will alight on it and effect pollination. The fact that one organism can enjoy a selective advantage by developing some of the identifying characteristics of another species provides scientists with a classic test-case for evolution.
Previous accounts of mimicry, following the original discoveries of Henry Bates, have been largely restricted to moths and butterflies. Dr Wickler shows that mimicry is much more widespread than is sometimes supposed, stressing that behavior is as important as coloration. On the other hand he shows that often what appears at first sight to be a case of mimicry may really not be mimicry at all. He establishes the criteria for a true mimicry system and emphasizes the importance of careful experiment to settle the question in each case. His book is the first to cover the whole field of the mimetic falsification of signals.
The value of Dr Wickler'stext is enhanced by the superb drawings and paintings of Hermann Kacher.
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Hi - Vissza