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Science 17 April 1987:
Vol. 236. no. 4799, pp. 308 - 310
DOI: 10.1126/science.236.4799.308
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Articles

A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing: Tephritid Flies Mimic Spider Predators

MONICA H. MATHER 1 and BERNARD D. ROITBERG 1

1 Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6.

Mimicry where prey resemble predators to avoid predation is unusual. Snowberry flies, Rhagoletis zephyria Snow, possess striped wing patterns that resemble the legs of jumping spiders. Observations and comparisons of responses of the jumping spider Salticus scenicus (Clerck) to conspecifics, snowberry flies, and other prey flies showed that snowberry flies can avoid predation by jumping spiders through spider mimicry. The mimicry effect was decreased by obliterating snowberry fly wing stripes.

Submitted on October 20, 1987
Accepted on February 11, 1987

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)