Mimicry, Aposematism and Related Phenomena Mimetism in Nature and the History of its Study
Stanislav Komarek
Charles University, Prague
The book "Mimicry, aposematism and related phenomena mimetism in nature and the history of its study" presents the development of mimicry study from the Antique age up to the 90´s of the twentieth century in such detail as no other publication has so far. A whole spectrum of natural phenomena linked to resemblance is described, of which the most interesting and remarkable are displayed in 39 ink-drawings. The complete story of human interpretation of living organisms´ exterior appearance, always in relation with the mainstream idea flow of every individual epoch, is portrayed in great detail. The phenomenon of protective resemblance is also reflected from the philosophical point of view, especially in connection with the ideas of Adolf Portmann. The book is designed for biologists as well as humanities scholars interested in this topic and represents the first detailed work ever dealing with the problematics of mimicry also from the historical and interpretative viewpoint. Mimicry and related phenomena, as well as various pattern types and coloration in animals, represent the touchstone of every biological theory and form a hermeneutic problem of a distinctive nature. The book also contains a voluminous bibliography related to this topic; an entirely complete bibliography referring to more than 5000 items has already been published by the author in 1998 (Mimicry, aposematism and related phenomena in animals and plants bibliography 1800-1990, Prague, Vesmír) and also represents the most detailed work of its kind. Contents: Introduction - Defining the scope of interest - Surface, interiority, similarity, and kinship. The time-period up to the year 1800 - The time-period from 1800-1860 - The time-period between 1859 and 1900. Darwinism and sociomorphic modeling - Sexual dimorphism and selection, exaggerated structures - Wallace's concept of adaptive coloration - Aposematism - Wallace's concept of mimicry - Müllerian mimicry - Mimicry rings. The time period from 1890 to 1953 (with a note on later development trends up to the nineties of the 20th century) . Teachings on mimicry and interpretations of the external appearance of organisms in England - Poulton, a classic of Darwinian interpretation - Hingston and his original conception of animal coloration - Poulton's coworkers and followers - Research and interpretation of mimetic phenomena and external appearance of organisms on the Continent - Eimer and the problem of animal color patterns - Linking color patterns and Portmann's concept - Piepers, Wasmann, Heikertinger, and other Continental authors - Mimicry in plants and fungi. Summary - Glossary - Bibliography - List of Illustrations - Name Index - Subject Index.
ISBN 9783895868511. LINCOM Studies in Biology 01. 176pp.
