Baby bird mimics a toxic caterpillar

Chick that mimics a caterpillar

This weeks blog is going to be on a very interesting example of Batesian mimicry taken from the Peruvian rain forest, the Amazon. This is an area with high nest predation (Londoño et al 2015).  Therefore extreme types of evolution has occurred. The species Laniocera hypopyrra looks like a normal bird, however its young are completely different. 




Figure 1: This is the adult Laniocera hypopyrra bird. Photo by Sylvian Uriot taken from http://featuredcreature.com/bizarre-baby-bird-mimics-toxic-caterpillar-escape-predation/. 

The picture below appears to be a poisonous caterpillar from the family Magalopygidae. This species is even known to be deadly for humans (if they ingest the caterpillar).  However it is the L.hypopyrra chick. The chick moves and looks like a caterpillar. It moves its head from side to side around a week after it is hatched(Londoño et al 2015). This movement appears to be the same as the caterpillar. which deceives any possible predators including various different species of monkey and snakes (Londoño et al 2015). Figure 3 shows the actual toxic caterpillar. The appearance is remarkably similar. 

The bright colouration is extremely conspicuous and therefore in any other circumstance the bird would be eaten easily as it would be seen by predators. The bright orange colour does not blend in with the surrounding rain forest foliage.  This is the chicks only form of defense against predation. The young birds are weak and blind.Therefore the Batesian mimicry must be the cause for this colouration.(Londoño et al 2015)

Figure 2: Laniocera hypopyrra chick which mimics a toxic catterpillar. Photo taken by Santiago David-Rivera taken from http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26689-zoologger-the-bird-that-mimics-a-toxic-caterpillar.html#.VRfKy_nF-8A. 





Figure 3: Magalopygidae catterpillar. Photo taken by unknown, taken from http://www.ttnaturelink.com/ttnaturetrips/tale-forests

Next week I will talk about the counter evolutionary strategies of these Predators and prey that I have blogged about. I will talk about how the deceived species respond to the mimicry.

References

Featured Creature, (2014). Bizarre Baby Bird Mimics a Toxic Caterpillar To Escape Predation | Featured Creature. [online] Available at: http://featuredcreature.com/bizarre-baby-bird-mimics-toxic-caterpillar-escape-predation/ [Accessed 29 Mar. 2015].

Londoño, G., García, D. and Sánchez Martínez, M. (2015). Morphological and Behavioral Evidence of Batesian Mimicry in Nestlings of a Lowland Amazonian Bird. The American Naturalist, 185(1), pp.135-141.

Newscientist.com, (2015). Zoologger: The bird that mimics a toxic caterpillar - life - 11 December 2014 - New Scientist. [online] Available at: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26689-zoologger-the-bird-that-mimics-a-toxic-caterpillar.html#.VRfKy_nF-8A [Accessed 29 Mar. 2015].

Aggressive mimicry

Aggressive mimicry

In my last blog I wrote about prey deceiving predators. In this post I am going to talk about aggressive mimicry. Aggressive mimickers are predators that deceive their prey.
One example is myrmecomorphy, this is when spiders mimic ants.


Figure 1: Myrmarachne plataleoides- batesian mimics of Weaver ant Oecophylla smaragdina. Photo by Sunny Joseph.(Taxo4254.wikispaces.com, 2015)

Aggressive mimicry based on Chemo-reception 

Spiders and other insects tend to avoid eating ants because of their sheer number. A colony of ants could easily take on any one predating insect. However this is the case for some mimicking spiders. The spiders prey is the ants. The spiders appearance is morphologically similiar to the ant. This however does not prove that the ants are deceived. Ants use a variety of chemo-reception techniques to identify foreign invaders or objects.
Therefore the spider must be able to deceive the ants, chemically.  Cosmophasis bitaeniata is a spider found in Australia. It can produce the chemical hydrocarbons that the weaver ants Oecophylla smaragdina produce to communicate. This then disguises the spider as a weaver ant. Allowing the spider to enter the nest and prey on the larvae and eggs. (Nelson and Jackson, 2012)

Spiders hunting specifically male moths

The bolas spider specializes on eating male moths. It does this by targeting the males senses. At night the bolas spider hangs a silk thread with a blob of sticky glue on the end and swings it around until a moth gets stuck to it. This is example is special because the spider attracts the male moth by releasing a chemical mixture similar to the female moths pheromones which the female moth releases to attract a mate.(Nelson and Jackson, 2012)


Figure 2: Bolas spider and its silk thread with the sticky glue on the end. From [http://boyslife.org/features/1263/a-photo-guide-to-my-favorite-spiders/]

References

Nelson, X. and Jackson, R. (2012).How spiders practice aggressive and Batesian mimicry . Current Zoology 58(4), pp.620-629. 

Taxo4254.wikispaces.com, (2015). taxo4254 - Myrmarachne plataleoides. [online] Available at: http://taxo4254.wikispaces.com/Myrmarachne+plataleoides [Accessed 22 Mar. 2015].

[Image] retrieved 22/03/2015 from http://boyslife.org/features/1263/a-photo-guide-to-my-favorite-spiders/

An introduction to mimicry and deception of animals

Introduction

For evolutionary biologists mimicry and deception in animals has been of great interest. This is because the evolution and genetic background of the technique and or  physiology is very complex (Searcy and Nowicki, 2005).
Most animals use some form of deception. Birds can display exaggerated body movements or singing to attract a mate(Searcy and Nowicki, 2005). Humans also use deceit, for example in any typical business presentation. Mimicry and Deception are both physiological or behavioral adaptations of an animal or plant, in order to survive and reproduce. 

Mimicry

There are 3 types of mimicry:
The first type is Batesian mimicry, which is when a defenseless prey species mimics a poisonous species, usually by mimicking the species appearance. This is seen widely in Insects such as butterflies (Kunte, 2009).

figure 1: Viceroy and Monarch butterfly   
The second type is Mullerian mimicry, this is when a mimicry ring is formed which is when multiple poisonous species all have similar colouring, the predator will learn to avoid the species which are this colour, therefore they are safe from predators (Hadley, 2015). The picture shows Ithomiinae, a day time moth(Mathieu, 2015).


Figure 2: Ithomiinae butterflies showing paticular mimic patterns.(Mathieu, 2015) from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/taxome/jim/Mim/moth.html 

The final type is self mimicry, this is when the prey species mimics the predators, predator. The species below is Lepidoptera or the Owl butterfly and it has an eye spot on its wing which mimics the eye of a vertebrate (Blut et al., 2012).


figure 3: Owl butterfly from mongabay.com 

Deception

Deception comes in various forms : 
One example would be the angler fish, the female uses a bio-luminescent lure to attract prey. The prey mistakes the lure for a worm and try to eat it, the angler fish then uses its large mouth and flexible body to eat prey up to twice the size of itself. The male acts as a parasite living on the females body (Society, 2015).

Figure 4: Angler fish taken from http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/fish/anglerfish/


Another form of animal deception is a more conscious response. The Plover bird Charadrius Vociferus has a special type of deception. When a predator approaches its nest, the parent bird hobbles away from the nest, dragging its wings and pretending to be injured. The predator then follows and the bird flies away unharmed. This form of deception keeps the predator away from the nest, therefore increasing its next generations survival (Manning, 1979).

Plover bird showing its deceptive technique.

Figure 5: Plover bird peforming broken wing deception. Taken from http://rateeveryanimal.com/2012/06/20/plover/. 

There are many animals that exhibit interesting deceptive techniques and in the next series of posts I will explain some of these examples in detail. 






Blut, C., Wilbrandt, J., Fels, D., Girgel, E. and Lunau, K. (2012). The ‘sparkle’ in fake eyes - the protective effect of mimic eyespots in lepidoptera. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 143(3), pp.231-244.

Hadley, D. (2015). What Is Müllerian Mimicry?. [online] About.com Education. Available at: http://insects.about.com/od/Insect_Defenses/f/What-Is-Mullerian-Mimicry.htm [Accessed 8 Mar. 2015].

Kunte, K. (2009). The diversity and evolution OF Batesian mimicry in papilo swallowtail butterflies. Evolution, 63(10), pp.2707-2716.

Manning, A. (1979). An introduction to animal behaviour. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.

Mathieu, J. (2015). "Tiger pattern" mimicry: Heliconius numata and Melinaea. [online] Ucl.ac.uk. Available at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/taxome/jim/Mim/moth.html [Accessed 8 Mar. 2015].

Searcy, W. and Nowicki, S. (2005). The evolution of animal communication. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Society, N. (2015). Anglerfish, Anglerfish Pictures, Anglerfish Facts - National Geographic. [online] National Geographic. Available at: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/fish/anglerfish/ [Accessed 8 Mar. 2015].