Abstract
The proposed cases of defensive mimicry of insects and other animals, and animal action mimicry by plants, commonly by colors, include a wealth of types. Some of them were tested experimentally and found to defend plants from herbivory, e.g., butterfly egg mimicry (Williams and Gilbert 1981; Shapiro 1981a, b) and tunnelling mimicry (Soltau et al. 2009). I am certain that additional animal mimicry types exist, and that many more taxa express the mimicry types already proposed and those that are not yet identified. I estimate the number of plant species that visually mimic animals or their action for defense in the thousands. Similarly, defensive olfactory mimicry of animals or their action by plants is probably not smaller although almost unknown. The combination of the two mimicry types for defense from herbivory should also occur. Although only a few of these hypotheses have been tested directly, these few cases and the much better known indirect data indicate that such defensive animal and animal action mimicry may indeed defend plants from herbivory.
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The proposed cases of defensive mimicry of insects and other animals, and animal action mimicry by plants, commonly by colors, include a wealth of types. Some of them were tested experimentally and found to defend plants from herbivory, e.g., butterfly egg mimicry (Williams and Gilbert 1981; Shapiro 1981a, b) and tunnelling mimicry (Soltau et al. 2009). I am certain that additional animal mimicry types exist, and that many more taxa express the mimicry types already proposed and those that are not yet identified. I estimate the number of plant species that visually mimic animals or their action for defense in the thousands. Similarly, defensive olfactory mimicry of animals or their action by plants is probably not smaller although almost unknown. The combination of the two mimicry types for defense from herbivory should also occur. Although only a few of these hypotheses have been tested directly, these few cases and the much better known indirect data indicate that such defensive animal and animal action mimicry may indeed defend plants from herbivory.
References
Shapiro AM (1981a) Egg-mimics of Streptanthus (Cruciferae) deter oviposition by Pieris sisymbrii (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). Oecologia 48:142–143
Shapiro AM (1981b) The pierid red-egg syndrome. Am Nat 117:276–294
Soltau U, Dötterl S, Liede-Schumann S (2009) Leaf variegation in Caladium steudneriifolium (Araceae): a case of mimicry? Evol Ecol 23:503–512
Williams KS, Gilbert LE (1981) Insects as selective agents on plant vegetative morphology: egg mimicry reduces egg laying by butterflies. Science 212:467–469
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Lev-Yadun, S. (2016). A General Perspective of Defensive Animal Mimicry by Plants. In: Defensive (anti-herbivory) Coloration in Land Plants. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42096-7_68
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42096-7_68
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