Trick or Treat! – Mullerian Mimicry Edition

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Photo Credit: Jennifer Taylor (All Rights Reserved; Used with Permission)

You are never to young for a meta-costume*.

To the untrained eye, it may look like my daughter is dressed as a monarch butterfly for Halloween. To the trained eye, you will recognize that half of her parental set is extremely dorky.

She is actually going as the concept of Müllerian Mimicry instantiated in the form of a viceroy butterfly. This costume is occassionally mistaken for Batesian Mimicry by novices.

Butterfly (monarch) on a Penta by Arturo Yee (CC BY 2.0)
Butterfly (monarch) on a Penta by Arturo Yee (CC BY 2.0)
Viceroy by Rodney Campbell (CC BY 2.0)
Viceroy by Rodney Campbell (CC BY 2.0)

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