Data from: Coral snakes predict the evolution of mimicry across New World snakes

Batesian mimicry, in which harmless species (mimics) deter predators by
deceitfully imitating the warning signals of noxious species (models),
generates striking cases of phenotypic convergence that are classic
examples of evolution by natural selection. However, mimicry of venomous
coral snakes has remained controversial because of unresolved conflict
between the predictions of mimicry theory and empirical patterns in the
distribution and abundance of snakes. Here we integrate distributional,
phenotypic and phylogenetic data across all New World snake species to
demonstrate that shifts to mimetic coloration in nonvenomous snakes are
highly correlated with coral snakes in both space and time, providing
overwhelming support for Batesian mimicry. We also find that bidirectional
transitions between mimetic and cryptic coloration are unexpectedly
frequent over both long- and short-time scales, challenging traditional
views of mimicry as a stable evolutionary ‘end point’ and suggesting that
insect and snake mimicry may have different evolutionary dynamics.