© Mathieu Joron and James Mallet 2000
The photo shows Müllerian mimicry (mutualistic
resemblance in which all the species are unpalatable) between forms of Heliconius
numata (Nymphalidae: Heliconiinae) and their comimics in the genus Melinaea
(Nymphalidae: Ithomiinae) from San Martín, Eastern Peru. Each pair
of pictures shows a separate "sub-ring" of the "tiger-patterned" mimicry
ring in the area, with the presumed models (each a separate species of Melinaea)
above and mimics (H. numata morphs) below. See also details of
other co-mimics in the /Mim/moth.html">melanic upland ring
(bottom centre), and the paper by Joron et
al. and Mathieu
Joron's web page on the maintenance of mimetic polymorphism in Heliconius
numata.
Last updated: 11 Oct 2005