Pfennig, D. W.*; Harcombe, W. R.; Pfennig, K. S.: Coral snake mimics are protected only when they occur with their model

Many species avoid being eaten by mimicking unpalatable species. A critical, but untested, prediction of mimicry theory is that protection from predators should break down in the absence of a dangerous model. We evaluated this prediction in two presumed coral snake mimicry complexes. We found that free-ranging predators avoided plasticine replicas of coral snake “mimics” in areas where highly venomous coral snakes occurred, but not in areas where coral snakes were absent. These data support the central prediction of Batesian mimicry and indicate that tricolor patterns in nonvenonmous snakes are maintained evolutionarily by the protection received from resembling coral snakes.