Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6018, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Jun 29;107(26):11659-65. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0912122107. Epub 2010 Jun 14.
We propose that the many different, but essentially similar, eye-like and face-like color patterns displayed by hundreds of species of tropical caterpillars and pupae-26 examples of which are displayed here from the dry, cloud, and rain forests of Area de Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG) in northwestern Costa Rica-constitute a huge and pervasive mimicry complex that is evolutionarily generated and sustained by the survival behavior of a large and multispecific array of potential predators: the insect-eating birds. We propose that these predators are variously and innately programmed to flee when abruptly confronted, at close range, with what appears to be an eye of one of their predators. Such a mimetic complex differs from various classical Batesian and Müllerian mimicry complexes of adult butterflies in that (i) the predators sustain it for the most part by innate traits rather than by avoidance behavior learned through disagreeable experiences, (ii) the more or less harmless, sessile, and largely edible mimics vastly outnumber the models, and (iii) there is no particular selection for the eye-like color pattern to closely mimic the eye or face of any particular predator of the insect-eating birds or that of any other member of this mimicry complex. Indeed, selection may not favor exact resemblance among these mimics at all. Such convergence through selection could create a superabundance of one particular false eyespot or face pattern, thereby increasing the likelihood of a bird species or guild learning to associate that pattern with harmless prey.
我们提出，数百种热带毛毛虫和蛹所展示的许多不同但本质上相似的眼状和脸状颜色模式——这里展示了来自哥斯达黎加西北部瓜纳卡斯特保护区（ACG）的干旱、云雾和雨林中的 26 个例子——构成了一个巨大而普遍的拟态复合体，它是由大量多物种潜在捕食者的生存行为进化产生和维持的：食虫鸟类。我们提出，这些捕食者通过内在的程序，当突然近距离面对看起来像是它们的捕食者之一的眼睛时，会本能地逃跑。这种拟态复合体与各种经典的贝氏和缪勒拟态复合体的成年蝴蝶不同，（i）捕食者主要通过先天特征而不是通过不愉快的经历习得的回避行为来维持它，（ii）或多或少无害的、固着的、并且在很大程度上可食用的拟态者大大超过了模型，（iii）对于眼状颜色模式没有特别的选择，以紧密模拟食虫鸟类的捕食者或该拟态复合体的任何其他成员的眼睛或脸。事实上，选择可能根本不倾向于这些拟态者之间的精确相似。通过选择的这种趋同可能会产生一种特别多的虚假眼点或脸模式，从而增加了鸟类物种或类群学会将该模式与无害猎物相关联的可能性。
