Read on Twitter
Hello...Police? I& #39;d like to report a mimicry.
I was this many days old when I learnt that only one of these is a California sister.
I was this many days old when I learnt that only one of these is a California sister.
I& #39;d learnt to id the R one as a California sister in the Coastal range. Then seeing ones like L pic around Davis, I& #39;d always called was the same thing. It was only when I accidentally loaded the L pic today into @inaturalist and saw multiple possible ids that I twigged.
The orange is a dot on California Sister (R pic) but it goes all the way to the wing edge of the Lorquin& #39;s Admiral (L pic). Plus the blue baring on the Cal. sister. But I& #39;d never noticed this as they all usually go by me so quickly, & I& #39;m not super observant (esp kid in tow).
I now have vague memories of looking carefully at the R pic & Art Shapiro& #39;s butterfly guide years ago (with my Dad when he visited, he& #39;s a keen butterfly guy) to work out that we& #39;d seen a Cal. sister & my dad pointing out the diff. But had completely forgotten this till today.
Apparently, the palatable Lorquin& #39;s Admiral is potentially a Batesian mimic of the unpalatable California sister [ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229447405_Evaluating_a_putative_mimetic_relationship_between_two_butterflies_Adelpha_bredowii_and_Limenitis_lorquini">https://www.researchgate.net/publicati... Prudic @eButterflyUSA et al].
And I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Luckily I don& #39;t generally eat butterflies, but they had me fooled completely.
Still, a bit confused about the mimicry, as seems like the ranges/habitats are only partially overlapping.
Correct me on any details if I& #39;m wrong (as just been googling around about this all). Also, I apologize that today pic (Left) isn& #39;t great. Our 4 y.o. asks me to take pics & then always sprints off laughing in the other direction, but I& #39;m glad that he asked me as it& #39;s really cool.
Thanks, @WTF_R_species for this really nice thread with more details of the California Sister vs Lorquin& #39;s Admiral mimicry & less than perfect mimics! https://twitter.com/WTF_R_species/status/1250418804993282049">https://twitter.com/WTF_R_spe...
