Masquerade

Synonyms

Concealing imitation; Procryptic resemblance; Special resemblance

Definition

When an organism appears to mimic an inanimate object, ostensibly, so that predators or prey misclassify it as unimportant.

Introduction

It is a relatively common strategy among plants and animals to mimic inanimate objects (“models”), such as twigs, leaves, pebbles, and bird droppings (Skelhorn et al. 2010a). Among insects, at least 50 of the 950 species of British macrolepidoptera resemble inanimate objects. For example, caterpillars of the peppered moth, Biston betularia, look like the twigs of birch and willow trees on which they rest; most of the 2500 species of stick and leaf insects (Phasmatodea), as well as many mantises (Mantodea), also resemble leaves and twigs (Skelhorn et al. 2010b). In terrestrial vertebrates, birds from the genus Nyctibius, with bark-colored plumage, are suggested to masquerade as tree stumps by sitting motionless during the day (Caro 2014). Tree-living colubrids, which...