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This block began on 15:12, 27 August 2023 and has been set to finish on: <b>15:12, 27 August 2028</b>.</td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: center;"><big> </big><p><big><b>You are not blocked from reading pages, only from changing or creating them.</b></big><br /> If you have just clicked a <span style="color:#BA0000; text-decoration:underline;">red link</span>, you were blocked from creating a new page as no article on that topic is there yet. </p> </div> If you think you were not blocked fairly, you may make unblock requests or file appeals at <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Steward_requests/Global" class="extiw" title="meta:Steward requests/Global">meta:Steward requests/Global</a>.</div></div><hr /> <p>You can view and copy the source of this page. </p><textarea readonly="" accesskey="," id="wpTextbox1" cols="80" rows="25" style="" class="mw-editfont-monospace" lang="en" dir="ltr" name="wpTextbox1">=== Müllerian mimicry === [[File:Heliconius mimicry.png|right|thumb|230px|The ''Heliconius'' butterflies from the tropics of the Western Hemisphere are classic Müllerian mimics.<ref>Meyer A. 2006. Repeating patterns of mimicry. ''PLoS Biol'' '''4''' (10): e341 doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0040341</ref>]] In Müllerian mimicry, some species with warning coloration come to look like each other. English naturalist [[Henry Walter Bates]] first noticed that some distasteful butterflies resembled one another, which he wrote about in 1862.<ref>Bates H.W. 1862. Contributions to an insect fauna of the Amazon Valley. Lepidoptera: Heliconidae. ''Transactions of the Entomological Society'' '''23''', 3, 495-566.</ref> However, he did not give a good explanation; that was left to German naturalist [[Fritz Müller]] in 1878.<ref>Müller, Fritz 1878. Über die Vortheile der Mimicry bei Schmetterlingen. ''Zoologischer Anzeiger'' '''1''', 54–55. Also: Müller F. 1879. ''Ituna'' and ''Thyridia'': a remarkable case of mimicry in butterflies. (transl. R. Meldola) ''Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London'' 20-29.</ref> Müller's explanation was simple: ''Both species benefit from a common pattern''. They share the cost of predators learning of their foul taste. Only one learning experience per predator might well be enough to deter it from eating both species. The [[butterfly|butterflies]] Bates, [[Alfred Russel Wallace|Wallace]] and Müller watched and collected were brightly colored and slow-moving. They often flew in groups which were highly visible. Despite this, they were avoided by [[birds]]. This is typical of aposematic (warning) coloration. The coloring of some species from the same area was so perfect that even experienced naturalists could not tell them apart on the wing. Once they were collected, and set out on a board so the details could be seen, it became clear they were not all of the same [[species]], and often not from the same biological [[family (biology)|families]]. The similar warning colors of [[hornet]]s, [[wasp]]s and some [[bees]] is Müllerian if they live in the same geographical region, so that a predator might, before learning, choose any of them. Tests show that birds do learn what to eat by sampling when they are young. All aspects of this situation have been the subject of research.<ref name="Ruxton"/> Field and experimental work on these ideas continues to this day.<ref>Mallet, James 2001. The speciation revolution. ''J Evolutionary Biology'' '''14''', 887-8.</ref><ref>Mallet J. and Joron M. 1999. Evolution in diversity in warning color and mimicry: polymorphisms, shifting balance and speciation. ''Annual Review of Ecological Systematics'' 1999. 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