Fig. 3.

Although the evolution of mimicry is frequently portrayed as a two-step process (involving a mutation producing a large phenotypic change followed by finer-scale adjustments), recent theory (Balogh and Leimar 2005) confirms that it can evolve by gradual means through predator generalisation and associated peak shift. In this particular simulation, we start with two relatively dissimilar yet equally unpalatable prey species (species A [dotted line] and B [smooth line]), with species B five times more common than species A. In this case, the species evolve mimicry primarily through advergence, in that the rarer species (A) changes more in phenotype than the common species B. Redrawn from Franks and Sherratt (2007)