ENTOM201_ Discussion Week 7

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University of Wisconsin, Madison *

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201

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Anthropology

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Oct 30, 2023

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ENTOM201: Discussion Week 7 Aditi Sharma, , Yeraldy Ramirez Estanislao, Jordan Mayer Magda Lulewicz Question 1: What do insects mimic? What do they try to mimic? ● Looks of other species (to show they aren't edible or not) (toxic species) ● Their environment (hide from predators)(camouflage) ● Frass / droppings ● Automimicry (resembles another part, protects from predation) Question 2: What are the similarities of these ants? What are the differences? ● Colors are black and golden ● Golden tailed ant has longer tail compared to the other ants ● Golden tailed spiny ant has spikes on thorax/heavily armored Which ones are the models and which are micmis and why? ● Golden tail spiny ant is the model because it is equipped with the most defenses. Other ants do not have armor like the golden tail ant and therefore mimic this species to appear more threatening Question 3: Would it be important to compare a mimic and non-mimic organism in your experiment looking at rates of predation? ● Compare how effective mimicry is ● As a control / reference Question 4: Why is it important to include visual and nonvisual predators? ● To compare the effectiveness of mimicry ○ The visual predators should target the mimicry a lot less as compared to the nonvisual predators ○ Shows the value of mimicry Question 5: What trends do you observe in predation by the 3 different predators? How might these trends be influenced by their different prey-capture techniques and preferences? ● Black house spider is eaten the most by the three predators (does not have any mimicry) ● Jumping spider has more popularity (higher preference of food choice) ● Skink will eat anything regardless of mimicry coloring ● The white tail spider doesn’t respond to visual mimicry, so maybe relies on volatile emissions (does not eat ants) ● Model (golden spiny ant) is most protected due to its built-in defenses

○ Other ants are more so protected as compared to black house spider (no mimicry protection)

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