Re: yellow and black
- From: r norman <r_s_norman@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:16:54 -0400
On 31 Jul 2007 13:07:28 GMT, nmp <address@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Op Tue, 31 Jul 2007 08:26:40 -0400, schreef r norman:
On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 04:07:37 -0700, someone2
<glenn.spigel2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I have heard that many harmful insects have a black and yellow
colouration, and that some non-harmful ones also adopt this colour
scheme to appear harmful. I was wondering as to what answer is given for
why harmful insects were more likely to have evolved a yellow and black
colouration than non-harmful insects.
Harmful or non-harmful are meaningless terms. Harmful to whom?
Google "Mullerian mimicry". The Wikipedia entry is a bit long winded
but very good
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimicry
But if you don't feel like cranking up your web browser basically the
idea is that potential predators learn to avoid that color pattern
because they get stung if they don't. The insects come to share a
common pattern because that allows the potential predators to learn to
avoid them more quickly -- there is a cost to the insects from potential
predators who haven't yet learned the system.
Clear. But that was not someone2's question as I understood it. For
instance some hoverflies have evolved to sport the same colour schemes as
wasps and bees, and this is mimicry, but why are the wasps and bees
yellow in the first place?
I think that a. whatever colour it is just a twist of nature, more or
less a coincidence and b. the brightest and most recognizable colours are
selected for, precisely because it warns off predators, like you
explained. Wasps with other colours, perhaps not as recognizable, get
eaten more by predators whether they sting or not.
Oh, this is just a pretty picture of a very common wasp:
<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/European_wasp_white_bg.jpg>
I have respect for wasps. I do not kill them when they get lost in my
house. I catch them and bring them outside. Call me sentimental :)
OK, I did misunderstand. Was the question -- "why are harmful insects
the same color, often yellow and black" or "why is yellow and black
the specific colors chosen by harmful insects". Mullerian mimicry is
the answer to the first interpretation. The answer to the second is,
as I explained in another post, the notion of aposematic or warning
coloration: the colors chosen must be easily seen and identified. No
doubt yellow and black are colors easily produced by insects and
easily seen by predators, whether other insects or vertebrates.
Insects do not see red and blue or green tends to be hard to produce.
.
- References:
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- From: someone2
- Re: yellow and black
- From: r norman
- yellow and black
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