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theses

Whether there is mimicry of venomous New World coral snakes by seemingly harmless species of snakes has been a long debated evolutionary subject. For some, this is considered a classic example of Batesian mimicry where the coral snake color pattern serves as a warning signal to predators and is imitated by non-venomous snakes to obtain the putative advantages without being venomous themselves. In many cases of mimicry, including more substantiated examples of Batesian mimicry, the mimic and the model have a clear relationship with each other as well as with their signal receivers. The relationships among coral snakes, on the other hand, is dynamic between themselves and their mimics in ways that have yet to be comprehensively assessed. The existing literature regarding coral snake mimicry presents a divisive stance on whether or not mimicry is actually occurring or if the similar phenotypes that coral snakes and other, non-venomous snakes share are due to environmental factors unrelated to the phenomenon of mimicry. The factors that are analyzed by both those who reject the mimicry hypothesis and those that support the idea that mimicry is occurring in this system include color pattern function, predatory learning, and biogeographic co-localization between model and mimic. In many cases, snake replica experiments aimed to examine coral snake mimicry have yielded results that have been used to both support and reject mimetic hypotheses, depending on the definition of mimicry being utilized. Herein lies the cause for the disjunction prevalent in coral snake mimicry research: the definition of mimicry is not consistent throughout the scientific community and must be reassessed and agreed upon in order for a comprehensive conclusion to be drawn about New World coral snakes and their potential mimics.

ETD_10292

M.S.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-pcym-4g96

ETD graduate

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