The coming and going of Batesian mimicry in a Holarctic butterfly clade

Abstract

A study using phylogenetic hypothesis testing, published in BMC Evolutionary Biology, suggests that non-mimetic forms of the North American white admiral butterfly evolved from a mimetic ancestor. This case might provide one of the first examples in which mimicry was gained and then lost again, emphasizing the evolutionary lability of Batesian mimicry. © 2010 Fiedler; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.