Unpalatability of viceroy butterflies (Limenitis archippus) and their purported mimicry models, Florida queens (Danaus gilippus)
✍ Scribed by David B. Ritland
- Book ID
- 104724011
- Publisher
- Springer-Verlag
- Year
- 1991
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 802 KB
- Volume
- 88
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0029-8549
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Understanding the dynamics of defensive mimicry requires accurately characterizing the comparative palatability of putative models and mimics. The Florida viceroy butterfly (Limenitis archippus floridensis) is traditionally considered a palatable Batesian mimic of the purportedly distasteful Florida queen (Danaus gilippus berenice). I re-evaluated this established hypothesis by directly assessing palatability of viceroys and queens to red-winged blackbirds in a laboratory experiment. Representative Florida viceroys were surprisingly unpalatable to red-wings; only 40% of viceroy abdomens were entirely eaten (compared to 98% of control butterfly abdomens), and nearly one-third were immediately tasterejected after a single peck. In fact, the viceroys were significantly more unpalatable than representative Florida queens, of which 65% were eaten and 14% taste-rejected. Thus, viceroys and queens from the sampled populations exemplify Müllerian rather than Batesian mimicry, and the viceroy appears to be the stronger model. These findings prompt a reassessment of the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of this classic mimicry relationship.