Kapan D D
Centre for Biodiversity Research, Department of Zoology, University of British Colombia, Vancouver, Canada.
Nature. 2001 Jan 18;409(6818):338-40. doi: 10.1038/35053066.
In 1879, Müller proposed that two brightly coloured distasteful butterfly species (co-models) that share a single warning-colour pattern would benefit by spreading the selective burden of educating predators. The mutual benefit of sharing warning signals among distasteful species, so-called müllerian mimicry, is supported by comparative evidence, theoretical studies and laboratory simulations; however, to date, this key exemplar of adaptive evolution has not been experimentally tested in the field. To measure natural selection generated by müllerian mimicry, I exploited the unusual polymorphism of Heliconius cydno (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Here I show increased survival of H. cydno morphs that match locally abundant monomorphic co-model species. This study demonstrates müllerian mimicry in the field. It also shows that müllerian mimicry with several co-models generates geographically divergent selection, which explains the existence of polymorphism in distasteful species with warning coloration.
1879年，米勒提出，两种颜色鲜艳且味道不佳的蝴蝶物种（共同模型）若共享单一的警戒色模式，将有助于分散教育捕食者的选择负担。令人厌恶的物种之间共享警戒信号所带来的互利，即所谓的缪勒拟态，得到了比较证据、理论研究和实验室模拟的支持；然而，迄今为止，这种适应性进化的关键范例尚未在野外进行实验验证。为了衡量缪勒拟态产生的自然选择，我利用了红带袖蝶（鳞翅目：蛱蝶科）不同寻常的多态性。在此我表明，与当地数量众多的单态共同模型物种相匹配的红带袖蝶形态具有更高的存活率。这项研究证明了野外的缪勒拟态。它还表明，与多个共同模型的缪勒拟态会产生地理上不同的选择，这解释了具有警戒色的令人厌恶的物种中多态性的存在。
