batesian-mimicry

Bates·i·an mim·icry

[beyt-see-uhn]
noun Ecology.
the protective resemblance in appearance of a palatable or harmless species, as the viceroy butterfly, to an unpalatable or dangerous species, as the monarch butterfly, that is usually avoided by predators.


Origin:
after Henry Walter Bates (1825–92), English naturalist, who described such mimicry in 1861; see -ian

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To batesian-mimicry
Collins
World English Dictionary
Batesian mimicry (ˈbeɪtsɪən) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
zoology mimicry in which a harmless species is protected from predators by means of its resemblance to a harmful or inedible species
 
[C19: named after H. W. Bates (1825--92), British naturalist and explorer]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
00:10
Batesian-mimicry is always a great word to know.
So is lollapalooza. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance.
American Heritage
Science Dictionary
Batesian mimicry   (bāt'sē-ən)  Pronunciation Key 
A form of protective mimicry in which an unprotected species (the mimic) closely resembles an unpalatable or harmful species (the model), and therefore is similarly avoided by predators. The close resemblance between certain harmless flies and stinging bees, and the similarity between the colored stripes of the nonpoisonous king snake and those of the highly venomous coral snake, are examples of Batesian mimicry. Batesian mimicry is named after the British naturalist Henry Walter Bates (1825-92). Compare aggressive mimicry, Müllerian mimicry.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT