A Batesian mimic and its model share color production mechanisms

作     者：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 USA 

出 版 物：《Current Zoology》 (动物学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2012年第58卷第4期

页      面：658-667页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 12[管理学] 1201[管理学-管理科学与工程(可授管理学、工学学位)] 07[理学] 08[工学] 09[农学] 081201[工学-计算机系统结构] 0812[工学-计算机科学与技术（可授工学、理学学位）] 

基　　金：We thank Karin Pfennig  Ver6nica Rodriguez-Moncalvo  Lisa Bono  and three anonymous refe-rees for helpful comments. Antonio Serrato helped with specimen collection. Chris Willett and Erin Burch aided with spectroscopy  and Vicky Madden and Steven Ray provided TEM services. Ken Wray kindly furnished coral snake speci-mens. Animal research was conducted under UNC IACUC permit 11-108. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation (DEB-1110385 and DEB - 1019479) 

主　　题：Adaptation Coloration Convergent evolution Pteridine Pigment 

摘      要：Batesian mimics are harmless prey species that resemble dangerous ones （models）, and thus receive protection from predators. How such adaptive resemblances evolve is a classical problem in evolutionary biology. Mimicry is typically thought to be difficult to evolve, especially if the model and mimic produce the convergent phenotype through different proximate mecha- nisms. However, mimicry may evolve more readily if mimic and model share similar pathways for producing the convergent phenotype. In such cases, these pathways can be co-opted in ancestral mimic populations to produce high-fidelity mimicry with- out the need for major evolutionary innovations. Here, we show that a Batesian mimic, the scarlet kingsnake Larnpropeltis elap-soides, produces its coloration using the same physiological mechanisms as does its model, the eastern coral snake Micrurus fulvius. Therefore, precise color mimicry may have been able to evolve easily in this system. Generally, we know relatively little about the proximate mechanisms underlying mimicry .