{"id":7969,"date":"2019-05-22T16:02:37","date_gmt":"2019-05-22T16:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/fisher-s_theory_of_evolutionary_mimicry\/"},"modified":"2019-05-22T16:02:37","modified_gmt":"2019-05-22T16:02:37","slug":"fisher-s_theory_of_evolutionary_mimicry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/fisher-s_theory_of_evolutionary_mimicry\/","title":{"rendered":"Fisher&#8217;s theory of evolutionary mimicry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A theory derived by <a href=\"http:\/\/users.ox.ac.uk\/~grafen\/cv\/fisher.pdf\" class=\"cc-route-enabled\" target=\"_self\" data-editable-link=\"http:\/\/users.ox.ac.uk\/~grafen\/cv\/fisher.pdf&amp;target=_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ronald A. Fisher<\/a> (1890-1962) from two earlier theories, namely, <a href=\"http:\/\/insects.about.com\/od\/Insect_Defenses\/f\/What-Is-Batesian-Mimicry.htm\" class=\"cc-route-enabled\" target=\"_self\" data-editable-link=\"http:\/\/insects.about.com\/od\/Insect_Defenses\/f\/What-Is-Batesian-Mimicry.htm&amp;target=_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Batesian mimicry<\/a> as announced by <a href=\"http:\/\/insects.about.com\/od\/thefieldofentomology\/qt\/Henry-Bates-And-His-Theory-On-Mimicry-In-Insects.htm\" class=\"cc-route-enabled\" target=\"_self\" data-editable-link=\"http:\/\/insects.about.com\/od\/thefieldofentomology\/qt\/Henry-Bates-And-His-Theory-On-Mimicry-In-Insects.htm&amp;target=_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Henry W. Bates<\/a> (1825-1892) in 1861 and <a href=\"http:\/\/insects.about.com\/od\/Insect_Defenses\/f\/What-Is-Batesian-Mimicry.htm\" class=\"cc-route-enabled\" target=\"_self\" data-editable-link=\"http:\/\/insects.about.com\/od\/Insect_Defenses\/f\/What-Is-Batesian-Mimicry.htm&amp;target=_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">M\u00fcllerian mimicry<\/a> published by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ucl.ac.uk\/taxome\/jim\/Mim\/Muller.html\" class=\"cc-route-enabled\" target=\"_self\" data-editable-link=\"http:\/\/www.ucl.ac.uk\/taxome\/jim\/Mim\/Muller.html&amp;target=_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fritz M\u00fcller<\/a> (1821-1897) in 1879. &nbsp;The evolution of mimicry such that a unprotected organism (e.g., a caterpillar) acquires the colour or form of a unpalatable species (e.g., a snake) for the predators was taken by Fisher as a example of natural selection at work that reduces the probability of an attack by looking or sounding like a dangerous, poisonous or noxious species. &nbsp;The theory is not without problems as there are difficulties in making clear-cut distinctions between mimicry and, for example, camouflage or crypsis (the ability for an organism to blend in with its surroundings). &nbsp;The theory led to the inclusion of altruism in evolutionary theory. &nbsp;In fact, similarities between mimics and models concerns not only appearance, but also behavior (as well as scent, sounds and location). &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>See <a href=\"imitation\">Imitation<\/a>, <a href=\"macroevolution_-or_horizontal_evolution-_and_micro\">Macroevolution (or horizontal evolution) and microevolution (or vertical evolution)<\/a>, (Modern synthesis, <a href=\"theory_of_natural_selection\">Theory of natural selection<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A theory derived by Ronald A. Fisher (1890-1962) from two earlier theories, namely, Batesian mimicry as announced by Henry W. Bates (1825-1892) in 1861 and M\u00fcllerian mimicry published by Fritz M\u00fcller (1821-1897) in 1879. &nbsp;The evolution of mimicry such that a unprotected organism (e.g., a caterpillar) acquires the colour or form of a unpalatable species &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/fisher-s_theory_of_evolutionary_mimicry\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Fisher&#8217;s theory of evolutionary mimicry&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2],"class_list":["post-7969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-glossary","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/fas\/psych\/glossary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}