Did aggregation favour the initial evolution of warning coloration? A novel world revisited.

From experiments using novel prey signals to avoid innate reactions to traditional signals, Alatalo & Mappes (1996, Nature, 382, 708-710) concluded that gregariousness would have selected for warning coloration as it originated for the first time, whereas a solitary prey distribution would not. We have investigated this suggestion in experiments using the same novel prey and background symbols and wild-caught great tit, Parus major, predators. We compared the attack rate on cryptic unpalatable and aposematic unpalatable prey in either a solitary or an aggregated treatment. In the aggregated treatment we found no difference in attack rate on cryptic and aposematic prey. In the solitary treatment the attack rate on aposematic prey was significantly lower after one attack and at the end of the experiment. Thus, we conclude that, in so far as these experiments mimic an original predator-prey relationship, they do not give support to the idea that aggregation would have favoured the evolution of warning coloration in unpalatable prey. Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.