Written by Denis Llewellyn Fox
Written by Denis Llewellyn Fox


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Written by Denis Llewellyn Fox
Warning, or aposematic, coloration

Certain advertising colorations warn a third party of dangerous or inedible qualities of the organism (aposematic colorations), such as spines, poisons, or other defensive weapons, allowing the possessor to avoid a potentially damaging interaction in which the weapon is used. Red, black, and yellow are common in this context and may represent aposematic colours recognized by many animals. (See photograph.)

As discussed above, Batesian mimicry is the imitation of aposematic coloration by benign organisms, which thereby enjoy at least a portion of the protection of the model species. While Batesian mimicry involves deceptive coloration, resemblance in warning coloration need not provide false information. Müllerian mimicry refers to instances in which several noxious species display the same warning coloration, thus enabling potential predators to learn and generalize the signal easily. The black-and-yellow coloration of bees and wasps is a typical example.

Optical functions: combination of concealing and advertising coloration

Most animals need both concealment and advertisement. An animal may need to conceal itself from predators and to advertise its presence to symbionts or to members of its own species for reproductive purposes.

Many birds that conceal courtship coloration when their feathers are held close to the body present a brilliant display upon erecting their feathers. Similar mechanisms are common in many animals, such as Anolis lizards, which have brightly coloured throat fans that are visible only when erected during courtship or threat behaviour.

Many bower birds (Ptilonorhynchidae) have bright courtship colorations, although some males of Amblyornis species do not. Instead, they decorate an elaborate bower with leaves, flower petals, and other brightly coloured objects, which attract females but provide no clue to predators as to the exact location of the male.

Some predators deceive with advertising coloration. The frogfishes, or shallow-water anglerfishes, are extremely difficult to detect against their background. They have intricate and obvious lures that are waved near the mouth on a long stalk; prey fishes attracted to the lure are eaten.

Coloration change is another obvious mechanism that can restrict advertisement to times when it is needed for purposes of communication. Many animals change from cryptic to noncryptic colorations as they change from their normal resting coloration to a display coloration during social interactions. These changes are particularly common in fishes and cephalopods, which have efficient neural mechanisms of coloration change.

Optical functions: the roles of the selective agent and of illumination

The selective agent

Of obvious importance in the evolution of coloration is the third party, which is the actual selective agent involved in the relationship between the organism and its background. Identification of the third party and the sensory and nervous system components used by it are important in order to understand thoroughly the adaptive nature of deceptive or advertising coloration.

In analyzing concealing coloration, the actual identification of the third party may have a profound influence on the interpretation of the coloration and behaviour. For example, the early stages of the green Scotch pine caterpillar (Bupalus piniarius and others) are found at the tips of pine needles, well camouflaged in this position. As they grow larger, they move into the bases of the needles and onto the branch. One explanation for the movement is that the older caterpillars are much larger than the background needle, thus rendering the camouflage less effective. Another factor appears to be a shift in the third party as the caterpillar ages; young caterpillars are preyed upon by spiders found on the twigs; larger caterpillars, by birds such as titmice (Parus).

After the initial identification of the third party, its visual capabilities must be investigated. The spectral sensitivity of its eyes must be determined, as must the way in which it perceives combinations of biochromes and their arrangements. The visual stimulus is subject to encoding and integrating steps as it passes from the eye to the cerebral cortex of the brain. Contrast and movement are amplified by some cells, while other properties, such as shape and intensity, are ignored. In humans, for example, contrast is greatly enhanced at the junction between a red and a blue stripe, producing the optical illusion that the two stripes never meet and are on different planes. Such phenomena may be of importance in disruptive coloration.

Advertisement is likewise subject to the visual capabilities of the third party, or signal receiver. Many species of plants have yellow flowers barely distinguishable to the human eye; when an ultraviolet camera is used to photograph such flowers, however, various bright patterns and nectar guides are revealed that appear to be highly species specific (see photograph). The importance of strong contrast and contour in the attraction of insects to flowers is related to the perceptual qualities of the insect’s compound eye, which shows maximal response to flickering stimuli and may depend upon similar qualities for much form discrimination.

In social signals, the visual system of a species is frequently maximally responsive to its own range of colorations. Butterflies of the genus Dardanus, for example, are maximally responsive to their own blue courtship coloration. The visual system and coloration are coadapted to provide an efficient signal mechanism.

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