Question:
Two species of butterflies are equally toxic to their main potential predator. Their morphological similarity helps to reduce predation rates on both species. This phenomenon is known as _________.
Two species of butterflies are equally toxic to their main potential predator. Their morphological similarity helps to reduce predation rates on both species. This phenomenon is known as _________.
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Ask whether both species are toxic (Mullerian) or only one is toxic while the other is a harmless copycat (Batesian).
Updated On: Jul 20, 2026
- Batesian mimicry
- Müllerian mimicry
- parasitism
- sensory overload
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The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
This question is testing the difference between the two classic types of mimicry that biology students often mix up: Batesian mimicry and Mullerian mimicry. The key clue in the question is that both butterfly species are equally toxic, and their shared look benefits both of them.
- Batesian mimicry: This happens when a harmless, edible species evolves to look like a toxic or dangerous species, so predators avoid it by mistake. Here both species are actually toxic, not just one mimicking the other's warning signal, so this does not fit.
- Mullerian mimicry: This happens when two or more species that are all genuinely toxic, or otherwise unpleasant to predators, evolve to look alike. A predator only needs one bad experience with either species to learn to avoid that shared pattern, so both species share the cost of teaching predators and both gain protection. This matches the question exactly, since both butterflies are equally toxic and their shared appearance protects both.
- Parasitism: This is an interaction where one organism benefits at the direct expense of another, living in or on it. It has nothing to do with two toxic species converging on the same warning colours.
- Sensory overload: This refers to overwhelming a predator's senses with too much stimuli, not to shared warning signals between equally defended species.
Since both species are equally toxic and their resemblance to each other reduces predation on both, this is a textbook description of Mullerian mimicry, not Batesian mimicry, which needs one harmless mimic and one genuinely toxic model.
Let's summarize:
- Batesian mimicry involves a harmless mimic copying a toxic model.
- Mullerian mimicry involves multiple genuinely toxic species converging on a shared warning appearance, sharing the cost of predator education.
So the correct answer is Mullerian mimicry.
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