The origin of mimicry: deception or merely coincidence?

Bram Wiggers, Harmen de Weerd

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperOther research output

    Abstract

    One of the most remarkable phenomena in nature is mimicry,
    in which one species (the mimic) evolves to imitate the phenotype of
    another species (the model). Several reasons for the origin of mimicry
    have been proposed, but no definitive conclusion has been found yet. In
    this paper, we test several of these hypotheses through an agent based coevolutionary
    model. In particular, we consider two possible alternatives:
    (1) Deception, in which mimics evolve to imitate the phenotype of models
    that predators avoid to eat, and (2) Coincidence, in which models evolve
    a warning color to avoid predation, which coincidentally benefits the
    mimics. Our agent-based simulation shows that both these hypotheses
    are plausible origins for mimicry, but also that once a mimicry situation
    has been established through coincidence, mimics will take advantage of
    the possibility for deception as well.
    Original languageEnglish
    Number of pages15
    Publication statusAccepted/In press - 8 Nov 2017
    EventThe 29th Benelux Conference on Artificial Intelligence - Het Kasteel, Groningen, Netherlands
    Duration: 8 Nov 20179 Nov 2017
    Conference number: 29
    http://bnaic2017.ai.rug.nl/

    Conference

    ConferenceThe 29th Benelux Conference on Artificial Intelligence
    Abbreviated titleBNAIC 2017
    Country/TerritoryNetherlands
    CityGroningen
    Period8/11/179/11/17
    Internet address

    Keywords

    • agent-based modeling
    • mimicry
    • co-evolution

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