Aposematic Zebra. Anthomyia illocata, Root-Maggot Fly, on Red Button Ginger, Costus woodsonii, KLCC Park, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Here's a small zebra-striped Flower or Root-Maggot Fly, Anthomyia illocata. We might find her coloration aesthetically attractive but primarily it's useful for the creatures involved. Aposematicism is a 'fancy' word for what great naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) in ordinary language called 'warning coloration'. He used that term in a letter to Charles Darwin (1866) in particular about the bright colors of caterpillars which warn predators of their bad taste. The 'fancy' word was devised by evolutionary naturalist Edward Bagnall Poulton (1856-1943). Perhaps it indicates, too, the professionalisation of biology in those years; professionalisation often carries with it a new technical vocabulary.
In the case of our Fly, this warning coloration cuts both ways: to protect her from predators and predators from a less than tasty meal! I saw Myia on a leaf of Red Button Ginger, Costus woodsonii in the KLCC Park.
Aposematic Zebra. Anthomyia illocata, Root-Maggot Fly, on Red Button Ginger, Costus woodsonii, KLCC Park, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Here's a small zebra-striped Flower or Root-Maggot Fly, Anthomyia illocata. We might find her coloration aesthetically attractive but primarily it's useful for the creatures involved. Aposematicism is a 'fancy' word for what great naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) in ordinary language called 'warning coloration'. He used that term in a letter to Charles Darwin (1866) in particular about the bright colors of caterpillars which warn predators of their bad taste. The 'fancy' word was devised by evolutionary naturalist Edward Bagnall Poulton (1856-1943). Perhaps it indicates, too, the professionalisation of biology in those years; professionalisation often carries with it a new technical vocabulary.
In the case of our Fly, this warning coloration cuts both ways: to protect her from predators and predators from a less than tasty meal! I saw Myia on a leaf of Red Button Ginger, Costus woodsonii in the KLCC Park.