From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
|
|
|||
| Line 41: | Line 41: | ||
|
Among the [[leaffishes]] (Polycentridae),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Collins |first1=Rupert A. |last2=Britz |first2=Ralf |last3=Rüber |first3=Lukas |title=Phylogenetic systematics of leaffishes (Teleostei: Polycentridae, Nandidae) |journal=Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research |volume=53 |issue=4 |date=2015 |doi=10.1111/jzs.12103 |doi-access=free |pages=259–272 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/jzs.12103}}</ref> the [[Amazon leaffish]] (”Monocirrhus polyacanthus”) strongly resembles a dead leaf, and has the habit of lying on its side without moving, often at an angle, and remains motionless even if caught in a net. It swims with its body rigid, undulating its very narrow anal and dorsal fins, which according to [[Hugh B. Cott|Hugh Cott]] are “colourless and transparent, and so practically invisible”.{{sfn|Cott|1940|pp=311–313}} The species is carnivorous, using its mimicry to approach its prey before engulfing it in its large jaws. Cott describes this form of mimicry as “special aggressive resemblance”.{{sfn|Cott|1940|pp=311–313}} |
Among the [[leaffishes]] (Polycentridae),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Collins |first1=Rupert A. |last2=Britz |first2=Ralf |last3=Rüber |first3=Lukas |title=Phylogenetic systematics of leaffishes (Teleostei: Polycentridae, Nandidae) |journal=Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research |volume=53 |issue=4 |date=2015 |doi=10.1111/jzs.12103 |doi-access=free |pages=259–272 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/jzs.12103}}</ref> the [[Amazon leaffish]] (”Monocirrhus polyacanthus”) strongly resembles a dead leaf, and has the habit of lying on its side without moving, often at an angle, and remains motionless even if caught in a net. It swims with its body rigid, undulating its very narrow anal and dorsal fins, which according to [[Hugh B. Cott|Hugh Cott]] are “colourless and transparent, and so practically invisible”.{{sfn|Cott|1940|pp=311–313}} The species is carnivorous, using its mimicry to approach its prey before engulfing it in its large jaws. Cott describes this form of mimicry as “special aggressive resemblance”.{{sfn|Cott|1940|pp=311–313}} |
||
|
An Amazon species of toad, ”[[Rhinella margaritifera]]”, has according to Cott “quite an extraordinary resemblance to a leaf.”{{sfn|Cott|1940|pp=315–316}} |
|||
|
<gallery class=center mode=nolines widths=180 heights=180> |
<gallery class=center mode=nolines widths=180 heights=180> |
||
Latest revision as of 14:30, 24 October 2025
Leaf mimicry is the evolved resemblance of an organism to a leaf, a form of mimicry. This may serve directly as camouflage, or it may function as Batesian mimicry if the leaf model is distasteful, for example with chemical defences. The mimicking organism can be a plant or an animal.
Boquila trifoliata, a South American member of the family Lardizabalaceae, is a climbing vine with a highly variable appearance (phenotype). It is capable of mimicking the leaf features of plant species that it clings to, such as their coloration, size, and shape. By camouflaging its leaves, Boquila reduces damage from herbivorous animals. It has been speculated that such plants may make use of “some kind of vision” using ocelli, or “delicate chemical sensing”, to account for the mimic’s ability to cope with such a large number of variables in its model’s appearance, including the ability to mimic the foliage of an artificial host plant made of plastic. Another plant that could well be a cryptic mimic of its host is the parasitic Australian mistletoe, Amyema cambagei, which has an “uncanny resemblance” to the foliage of Casuarina trees.
Many extant insects masquerade as leaves.[5] Examples include moths and butterflies such as Kallima[6] and many katydids,[7] and the leaf insects (Phyllidae) among the phasmids.[8]
The comma butterfly of Europe has summer and winter forms. Insects in the darker winter form tend to roost on tree trunks, whereas the lighter summer form insects always roost on leaves. The two morphs appear to camouflage the insects well in the two seasons.[9]
A rare 47 million year old fossil of a phasmid leaf insect from Germany demonstrates that leaf mimicry existed in this group in the Eocene period.[10] Among the orthoptera (grasshoppers and allies), fossil grigs (Prophalangopsidae) have been found in the Daohugou Biota of northeastern China, some 163.5 million years ago in the Jurassic period. Their forewings were patterned to resemble leaves of the cycad-like Bennettitales.[5]
Among the leaffishes (Polycentridae),[11] the Amazon leaffish (Monocirrhus polyacanthus) strongly resembles a dead leaf, and has the habit of lying on its side without moving, often at an angle, and remains motionless even if caught in a net. It swims with its body rigid, undulating its very narrow anal and dorsal fins, which according to Hugh Cott are “colourless and transparent, and so practically invisible”. The species is carnivorous, using its mimicry to approach its prey before engulfing it in its large jaws. Cott describes this form of mimicry as “special aggressive resemblance”.
An Amazon species of toad, Rhinella margaritifera, has according to Cott “quite an extraordinary resemblance to a leaf.”
- ^ a b Fu, Yanzhe; Dong, Chong; Fabrikant, Dolev; Cai, Chenyang; Haug, Carolin; Haug, Joachim T.; Huang, Diying (28 August 2025). “Unique leaf mimicry in Jurassic insects”. Geology. doi:10.1130/G53399.1.
- ^ Suzuki, Takao K; Tomita, Shuichiro; Sezutsu, Hideki (2014). “Gradual and contingent evolutionary emergence of leaf mimicry in butterfly wing patterns”. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 14 (1). doi:10.1186/s12862-014-0229-5. PMC 4261531. PMID 25421067.
- ^ Castner, James; Nickle, David (August 2004). “Notes on the biology and ecology of the leaf-mimicking katydid Typophyllum bolivari Vignon (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Pseudophyllinae: Pterochrozini)”. Journal of Orthoptera Research. 4: 105–109.
- ^ Bradley, J.C.; Galil, B.S. (1977). “The taxonomic arrangement of the Phasmatodea with keys to the subfamilies and tribes”. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. 79 (2): 176–208.
- ^ Wiklund, Christer; Tullberg, Birgitta S. (2004). “Seasonal polyphenism and leaf mimicry in the comma butterfly”. Animal Behaviour. 68 (3): 621–627. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2003.12.008.
- ^ Wedmann, Sonja; Bradler, Sven; Rust, Jes (9 January 2007). “The first fossil leaf insect: 47 million years of specialized cryptic morphology and behavior”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 104 (2): 565–569. doi:10.1073/pnas.0606937104. PMC 1766425. PMID 17197423.
- ^ Collins, Rupert A.; Britz, Ralf; Rüber, Lukas (2015). “Phylogenetic systematics of leaffishes (Teleostei: Polycentridae, Nandidae)”. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. 53 (4): 259–272. doi:10.1111/jzs.12103.
- Baluška, František; Mancuso, Stefano (2021-03-29). “Individuality, self and sociality of vascular plants”. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 376 (1821) 20190760. doi:10.1098/rstb.2019.0760. PMC 7934911. PMID 33550947.
- Cott, Hugh B. (1940). Adaptive Coloration in Animals. Methuen.
- Gianoli, Ernesto; Carrasco-Urra, Fernando (2014-05-05). “Leaf Mimicry in a Climbing Plant Protects against Herbivory”. Current Biology. 24 (9): 984–987. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.010. hdl:10533/129445. PMID 24768053.
- Pannell, John R.; Farmer, Edward E. (2016-09-12). “Mimicry in plants”. Current Biology. 26 (17): R784 – R785. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.005. PMID 27623255.
- White, Jacob; Yamashita, Felipe (2022-12-31). “Boquila trifoliolata mimics leaves of an artificial plastic host plant”. Plant Signaling & Behavior. 17 (1). doi:10.1080/15592324.2021.1977530. ISSN 1559-2324. PMC 8903786. PMID 34545774.
