More than mimicry？ Evaluating scope for flicker-fusion as a defensive strategy in coral snake mimics

作     者：Georgia C. TITCOMB David W. KIKUCHI David W. PFENNIG 

作者机构：Department of Biology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill NC 27599-3280 

出 版 物：《Current Zoology》 (动物学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2014年第60卷第1期

页      面：123-130页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 0821[工学-纺织科学与工程] 07[理学] 0905[农学-畜牧学] 08[工学] 0906[农学-兽医学] 082104[工学-服装设计与工程] 071002[理学-动物学] 

基　　金：Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation Morehead-Cain Scholars Program 

主　　题：Coral snake mimicry Flicker-fusion effect CFF Kingsnake Defensive strategy 

摘      要：Coral snakes and their mimics often have brightly colored banded patterns, generally associated with warning colora- tion or mimicry. However, such color patterns have also been hypothesized to aid snakes in escaping predators through a ＂flicker-fusion＂ effect. According to this hypothesis, banded color patterns confuse potential predators when a snake transitions from resting to moving because its bands blur together to form a different color. To produce this motion blur, a moving snake＇s bands must transition faster than the critical flicker-fusion rate at which a predator＇s photoreceptors can refresh. It is unknown if coral snakes or their mimics meet this requirement. We tested this hypothesis by measuring the movement speed and color pat- terns of two coral snake mimics, Lampropeltis triangulum campbelli and L. elapsoides, and comparing the frequency of color transitions to the photoreceptor activity of the avian eye. We found that snakes often produced a motion blur, but moving snakes created a blurring effect more often in darker conditions, such as sunrise, sunset, and nighttime when these snakes are often active. Thus, at least two species of coral snake mimics are capable of achieving flicker-fusion, indicating that their color patterns may confer an additional defense aside from mimicry