Batesian mimicry
Mimetismo batesiano
- Date
- 1861-1862 · confidence high
- Place
- Tefé (Ega), Amazonas, Brazil
- Credited to
- Henry Walter Bates
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Bates observed that harmless Amazonian butterflies imitated the appearance of distasteful species and proposed that natural selection favoured the mimics. It was one of the first empirical confirmations of Darwin's natural selection.
Presented to the Linnean Society in November 1861 and published in 1862; the observations were made at Ega during his Amazonian stay (1848-1859).
What it led to
- The first evolutionary explanation of mimicry
- Studies of coevolution and warning signals
- Predator–prey models in ecology