Colophon
The animals on the cover of MediaWiki are mimic butterflies. Several species of butterflies mimic other butterflies to protect themselves from predators or to gain an advantage over other insects.
Mimic butterflies often employ two types of mimicry: nonpoisonous (Batesian mimicry) and poisonous (Müllerian mimicry). Because predators will become sick (or, in some cases, die) after eating a poisonous insect, nonpoisonous butterflies benefit from mimicking their poisonous look-alikes. However, an advantage of poisonous mimicry is that fewer overall insects die as predators become skilled at avoiding both poisonous species.
For instance, the Ash Borer (Podosesia syringae) has markings that look strikingly like those of the paper wasp (Polistes fuscatus). As such, potential predators steer clear from the Ash Borer for fear of being stung, even though the butterfly has no ability to sting. The Queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus) is perhaps doubly protected, as it is poisonous, just like its twin, the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus).
Some would also call the mimic butterfly a trickster. As a caterpillar, the Blue butterfly (Everes comyntas) will secrete skin molecules that are nearly identical to those of the fire ant. After secretion, an adult fire ant will usually find the butterfly and “adopt” it, bringing the larva back to its home, where it feeds the caterpillar until it is able to turn into a butterfly. The Blue butterfly repays the ant’s kindness by eating the majority ...