Diversidade em mimetismo: paradoxo ou paradigma?

Diversity in mimicry: paradox or paradigm?

Mathieu Joron
James L.B. Mallet

Visual mimicry is a textbook case of natural selection because it is both intuitively understandable and has repeatedly evolved in a range of organisms: it is the ultimate example of parallel evolution. In many mimetic groups, particularly butterflies, a huge variety of colour patterns has arisen, even in closely related species. There has been much recent controversy over explanations of this variety. Mimicry is today a broad field of evolutionary study; here we discuss the evolution of its diversity in predator–prey systems.

Mathieu Joron is at Génétique et Environnement, CC065 ISEM, Université de Montpellier 2, Place Bataillon, F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France (joron@isem.univ-montp2.fr);
James Mallet is at the Galton Laboratory, University College London, 4 Stephenson Way, London, UK NW1 2HE (http://abacus.gene.ucl.ac.uk./jim/jim.html).

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