Some creatures in the animal kingdom have developed a clever trick for staying alive: pretending to be something far scarier than they really are. A new Nature study has revealed how this evolutionary sleight of hand, known as Batesian mimicry, works and why some species are more convincing fakes than others.
To tackle this question, researchers from the University of Nottingham took a high-tech approach. They created life-sized, 3D-printed insect models to simulate the look of real wasps and their harmless mimics, such as hoverflies. This method allowed scientists to precisely manipulate traits like shape, color, and pattern — something impossible to do with living specimens.
“In our study, we are asking a question about how evolution works and what determines where evolution reaches at a particular point in time,” said Tom Reader, from the School of Life Sciences, in a press release. “Our experiments looked at the competing influences ...
