Data from: The relationship between morphological and behavioral mimicry in hover flies (Diptera: Syrphidae)

Palatable (Batesian) mimics of unprofitable models could use behavioral mimicry to compensate for the ease with which they can be visually discriminated or to augment an already close morphological resemblance. We evaluated these contrasting predictions by assaying the behavior of 57 field-caught species of mimetic hover flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) and quantifying their morphological similarity to a range of potential hymenopteran models. A purpose-built phylogeny for the hover flies was used to control for potential lack of independence due to shared evolutionary history. Those hover fly species that engage in behavioral mimicry (mock stinging, leg waving, wing wagging) were all large wasp mimics within the genera Spilomyia and Temnostoma. While the behavioral mimics assayed were good morphological mimics, not all good mimics were behavioral mimics. Therefore, while the behaviors may have evolved to augment good morphological mimicry, they do not advantage all good mimics.不可食用的被拟态模型的可口贝茨氏拟态者（Batesian mimics）可借助行为拟态，弥补自身易被视觉识别区分的缺陷，或是强化已具备的相近形态相似度。本研究通过对57种野外捕获的拟态食蚜蝇（双翅目：食蚜蝇科，Diptera: Syrphidae）的行为进行测定，并量化其与多种潜在膜翅目（Hymenoptera）模型物种的形态相似度，对这两种对立的预测假说进行了评估。研究构建了专属的食蚜蝇系统发育树，以控制由共同进化历史导致的非独立性潜在偏差。展现出行为拟态（模拟蜇刺动作、腿部摆动、翅膀震颤）的食蚜蝇物种，均隶属于食蚜蝇属（Spilomyia）与纹胸蚜蝇属（Temnostoma）的大型胡蜂拟态类群。尽管本次测定的行为拟态者均为优秀的形态拟态者，但并非所有优秀形态拟态者都具备行为拟态。因此，尽管这类行为或已进化以强化优秀的形态拟态效果，但它们并非能为所有优秀形态拟态者带来适应性优势。