I mentioned in my first post that mimicry and camouflage are different from one another. Camouflage is used by animals to make themselves less visible - via body colouration, patterns, or morphological structures (Stevens and Merilaita, 2008) to blend into the background. This is distinct from mimicry, where animals are still perfectly visible. Mimesis is an area of overlap between the two, where an organism resembles a specific object, such as a leaf or bird dropping (Pasteur, 1982).
Figure 1: A juvenile Orchid Mantis
Hymenopus coronatus, shown in Figure 1, expresses (aggressive) mimesis in its juvenile and adult forms, where it mimics parts of the flower of a orchid. The colours and shapes of the orchid mantis act as visual cues to pollinators (prey of the orchid mantis), attracting them (O'hanlon et al., 2013). The mantis' four walking legs look like petals, whilst the two front limbs are used to grasp any prey unfortunate enough to get too close.
Figure 2: An adult Orchid Mantis
Adult orchid mantises (as shown in Figure 2) do not resemble orchid flowers to the same extent that juveniles do. However, they still retain femoral lobes and a similar white colouration, both of which could still be attractive to pollinators (O'hanlon et al., 2013). It is also entirely possible that the orchid mantis' resemblance to an orchid flower in the juvenile stage helps it hide from predators; therefore, as individuals mature and are better able to defend themselves, there may be less need to be such a convincing mimic.
Figure 3: Orchid Mantis nymph
Whilst the older Orchid Mantises mimics orchid flowers (mimesis), the first stage nymphs (shown in Figure 3) mimic members of the Reduviidae family (mimicry). This is a form of Batesian mimicry, as the model insect tastes pretty awful and also has a powerful bite (Gurney, 1951) and therefore, by resembling the model, the nymph can deter potential predators.
- Gurney, A. 1951 'Praying mantids of the U.S, native and introduced', Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, vol. 105, no. 1, pp. 344-345.
- O'hanlon, J., Li, D. and Norma-Rashid, Y. 2013, 'Coloration and Morphology of the Orchid Mantis Hymenopus coronatus', Journal of Orthoptera Research, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 35-44.
- Pasteur, G. 1982, 'A Classificatory Review of Mimicry Systems', Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 169-199.
- Stevens, M. and Merilaita, S. 2008, 'Animal camouflage: current issues and new perspectives', Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society, vol. 364, no. 1, pp. 423-437.
- Figure 1: http://www.themagazine.ca/cms/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Malaysian-orchid-mantis.jpg By Unknown photographer, retrieved: 22/03/14
- Figure 2: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Insect_camouflage_PP08338.png Photographer: Philipp Psurek, retrieved: 22/03/14
- Figure 3: http://www.nature-china.net/home/attachment/201102/28/195028_1298915776QH1R.jpg Unknown photographer, retrieved 22/03/14
Awesome example! Mantids are intriguing little beasts indeed! I find it particularly interesting that the different stages show somewhat different strategies. It’s great that you explained what mimesis is. Would plants also be classified in the same manner if they mimic animals (such as the bee orchid that mimics a bee)? Great post.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tasmin! :)
DeleteI'm not sure. I think 'officially' they're classified a bit differently. For example, the type of mimicry that plants (such as the bee or fly orchid) use to attract a pollinator is called Pouyannian mimicry. But (from what I can tell), its essentially the same thing as mimesis.