Division of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G20 8QQ, UK.
Biol Lett. 2010 Oct 23;6(5):597-9. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0226. Epub 2010 Apr 21.
Masquerading animals have evolved striking visual resemblances to inanimate objects. These animals gain protection from their predators not simply by avoiding detection, but by causing their predators to misclassify them as the 'models' that they appear to resemble. Using domestic chicks as predators and twig-mimicking caterpillars as prey, we demonstrated that masquerading prey were more likely to be misclassified as their models when viewed in isolation from their models than when viewed alongside examples of their model, although they benefitted from masquerade to some extent in both conditions. From this, we predict a selection pressure on masqueraders to use microhabitats that reduce the risk of them being viewed simultaneously with examples of their model, and/or to more closely resemble their model in situations where simultaneous viewing is commonplace.
伪装动物进化出了与无生命物体惊人相似的视觉特征。这些动物不仅通过避免被发现来获得保护，还通过让它们的捕食者错误地将它们归类为它们所模仿的“模型”来获得保护。我们使用家鸡作为捕食者和树枝状毛毛虫作为猎物进行实验，结果表明，与同时看到模型的例子相比，当伪装猎物与模型分开观察时，它们更有可能被错误地归类为它们的模型，尽管在这两种情况下它们都在一定程度上受益于伪装。由此，我们预测伪装者会受到选择压力的影响，会选择减少同时与模型例子一起被看到的风险的微生境，或者在同时观察很常见的情况下更紧密地模仿它们的模型。
