Sanders K L, Malhotra A, Thorpe R S
School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2006 May 7;273(1590):1135-41. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3418.
Müllerian mimicry, in which toxic species gain mutual protection from shared warning signals, is poorly understood in vertebrates, reflecting a paucity of examples. Indirect evidence for mimicry is found if monophyletic species or clades show parallel geographic variation in warning patterns. Here, we evaluate a hypothesis of Müllerian mimicry for the pitvipers in Southeast Asia using a phylogeny derived from DNA sequences from four combined mitochondrial regions. Mantel matrix correlation tests show that conspicuous red colour pattern elements are significantly associated with sympatric and parapatric populations in four genera. To our knowledge, this represents the first evidence of a Müllerian mimetic radiation in vipers. The putative mimetic patterns are rarely found in females. This appears paradoxical in light of the Müllerian prediction of monomorphism, but may be explained by divergent selection pressures on the sexes, which have different behaviours. We suggest that biased predation on active males causes selection for protective warning coloration, whereas crypsis is favoured in relatively sedentary females.
缪勒拟态是指有毒物种通过共享的警戒信号获得相互保护，在脊椎动物中人们对其了解甚少，这反映出相关例子很少。如果单系物种或进化枝在警戒模式上表现出平行的地理变异，就可以找到拟态的间接证据。在这里，我们利用从四个线粒体区域组合的DNA序列推导出来的系统发育关系，评估东南亚蝰蛇的缪勒拟态假说。曼特尔矩阵相关性测试表明，四个属中显眼的红色图案元素与同域和邻域种群显著相关。据我们所知，这代表了蝰蛇中缪勒拟态辐射的首个证据。假定的拟态模式在雌性中很少见。根据缪勒关于单态性的预测，这似乎自相矛盾，但可能是由于两性面临不同的选择压力，它们具有不同的行为。我们认为，对活跃雄性的偏向性捕食导致了对保护性警戒色的选择，而相对 sedentary 的雌性则更倾向于保护色。
原文中“sedentary”可能有误，推测可能是“sedentary”，暂按“久坐不动的”来翻译，你可根据实际情况调整。
