题型：阅读理解 题类：常考题 难易度：普通
吉林省蛟河市一中2018-2019高二下学期英语第三次测试试卷（音频暂未更新）
Many non-edible (不能吃的), poisonous or otherwise not pleasant-tasting butterflies have distinct colors and pat terns. As a result, other more palatable (可口的)butterflies have evolved to mimic (模仿)those patterns to avoid being consumed by predators. There are several types of mimicry in butterflies: Bayesian mimicry, Müllerian mimicry, wasp (黄蜂)mimicry and tiger complex mimicry. Birds will consume unpalatable butterflies and associate their colors and patterns with the negative experience, thus avoiding the butterflies performing mimicry. It is possible that birds even communicate their experience with other birds.
Bayesian mimicry was established by the naturalist Henry Walter Bates in 1862. He first observed that mimicry involved a palatable butterfly resembling an unpalatable, often toxic (有毒的)，butterfly. This mimicry will only work when the toxic model species outnumbers the non-toxic species. He believed that mimicry was the result of edible butterflies producing mutations (突变)making them resemble their inedible cousins. This in turn resulted in the increased survival of the butterflies containing the mutation and resulted in the similarities between species. In 1879 another naturalist, Johann Friedrich Theodor Müller, observed that in some cases of mimicry both the mimic and the model are unpalatable. He considered this to be a cooperative mimicry and believed the species evolved side by side in a mutually beneficial relationship. If a bird tried to eat a member of either species, it would then avoid both. Wasp mimicry is similar to Bayesian mimicry, but instead of mimicking another unpalatable butterfly species, the mimic resembles a wasp to avoid predators.
The tiger complex is a group of around 200 species of Neotropical butterflies that are involved in the most well-known form of mimicry. It is named such because the patterns of all of the included species are black on a background of either orange or yellow, resembling a tiger. In the complex are many unpalatable species, a few toxic species and a large number of completely edible species. Members of the tiger complex are all known for congregating (集合)in large groups that would normally be easy food for birds. Fortunately, birds have no interest in them due to their mimicry.
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