viceroy butterfly is not a batesian mimic

• Published in: Nature (London) Vol. 350; no. 6318; pp. 497 - 498
• Main Authors: Ritland, D.B, Brower, L.P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing 11.04.1991; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Agelaius phoeniceus; Animal ethology; Biological and medical sciences; birds; Butterflies & moths; Danaus; Danaus gilippus; Danaus plexippus; Ecology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Invertebrates; Lepidoptera; Limenitis archippus; mimicry; Nymphalidae; palatability; predation; Protozoa. Invertebrata; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Palatability; United States; Arthropoda; Insecta; America; Lepidoptera; Nymphalidae; Invertebrata; Florida; North America; Defense; Batesian mimetism
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/350497a0

Defensive mimicry has long been a paradigm of adaptive evolution by natural selection. Mimics, models and predators in a batesian mimicry system (unpalatable model, palatable mimic) exist in a very different selective milieu from those in a mullerian system (involving greater than or equal to 2 unpalatable 'co-models'). Consequently, the incorrect characterization of a mimicry relationship obscures the natural histories of populations involved and undermines attempts to test general mimicry theory by means of empirical studies of specific systems. Here, we reassess the classic case of mimicry involving viceroy butterflies, Limenitis archippus (Cramer) (Nymphalidae), and two species they purportedly mimic: the monarch, Danaus plexippus (L.), and the queen, Danaus gilippus (Cramer) (Nymphalidae: Danainae). Viceroys are historically considered palatable (batesian) mimics of the chemically defended danaines. Our experiment refutes this interpretation by revealing that viceroys are as unpalatable as monarchs, and significantly more unpalatable than queens from representative Florida populations. This implies that viceroys are mullerian co-mimics of the danaines and prompts a comprehensive reassessment of this widely cited exemplar of mimicry.