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Evolutionary biology

Life imperfectly imitates life

Some species evolve to resemble another species so as to protect themselves from predation, but this mimicry is often imprecise. An analysis of hoverflies suggests why imperfect imitation persists in the face of natural selection. See Letter p.461

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Figure 1: A fly in wasp's clothing.

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Correspondence to David W. Pfennig or David W. Kikuchi.

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Pfennig, D., Kikuchi, D. Life imperfectly imitates life. Nature 483, 410–411 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/483410a

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