{ "model": { "rank": 6866, "code": "thing-q192627", "model_id": "vr.tr.mimicry", "name": "mimicry", "purpose": "Let an agent explain mimicry and its kinds, relay classic examples and research with attribution, describe its role in evolutionary theory, and distinguish mimicry from camouflage and convergence.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Cross-cutting context", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "XCT", "domain": "XCT.QLT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q192627/", "tier": 2, "score": 58, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "phagomimicry", "bee or wasp mimicry", "mimicry in butterflies", "Gilbertian mimicry", "female mimicry", "male mimicry", "leaf mimicry", "Müllerian mimicry", "ant mimicry", "Batesian mimicry", "Wasmannian mimicry", "automimicry", "aggressive mimicry", "chemical mimicry", "sexual mimicry", "Vavilovian mimicry", "molecular mimicry" ], "aliasCount": 17, "merged": 17, "knownIn": 58, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q192627", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q192627", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T00:46:58Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 3, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q192627", "registryId": "vr.tr.mimicry", "name": "mimicry", "version": "0.2.0-wave.3", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "XCT.QLT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q192627/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.mimicry", "name": "mimicry", "purpose": "Let an agent explain mimicry and its kinds, relay classic examples and research with attribution, describe its role in evolutionary theory, and distinguish mimicry from camouflage and convergence.", "definition": "An evolved resemblance of one organism to another organism or object that confers an advantage such as protection from predators, in forms including Batesian mimicry where a harmless species resembles a harmful one, Mullerian mimicry among harmful species, aggressive mimicry by predators, Gilbertian mimicry where a host resembles its parasite, and intraspecific female or male mimicry in mating systems; mimicry is classic evidence for natural selection, studied especially in butterflies and in bee and wasp mimics.", "what_it_is_for": "Not applicable; an evolutionary phenomenon.", "affordances": [ "explain kinds and mechanisms", "relay examples and research", "describe evolutionary significance", "distinguish from camouflage" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Model, mimic and receiver", "Signal deception or reinforcement", "Frequency dependence", "Classic selection evidence" ], "appearance": "Organisms resembling other species, such as hoverflies resembling wasps.", "visual_identification": [ "Resemblance of one organism to another for advantage", "Batesian, Mullerian, aggressive, Gilbertian, sexual mimicry", "Camouflage resembles the background; convergence is similarity from shared environment without signalling" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "Batesian mimicry", "Mullerian mimicry and mimicry rings", "aggressive mimicry", "Gilbertian and other rare forms", "bee and wasp mimicry by flies and moths", "mimicry in butterflies", "female and male mimicry within species", "phagomimicry and chemical mimicry" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "crypsis", "why": "in registry terms, though many treat them as distinct" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "similarity", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "is evidence for", "target": "natural selection", "why": "in evolutionary biology" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "camouflage", "why": "resemblance to background" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "No regulation; scientific conventions" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Confusing mimicry with camouflage", "Assuming mimicry without evidence of receiver response", "Anthropomorphic language" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What mimicry is.", "rationale": "Science.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition and kinds.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is mimicry, and how do Batesian, Mullerian, aggressive and other forms differ?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the phenomenon mimicry, camouflage or convergence?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "mechanism", "name": "Mechanism", "description": "Mechanisms.", "findings": [ { "id": "mechanism-finding", "name": "Mechanism", "description": "Mechanism.", "questions": [ { "text": "How does selection by receivers drive mimicry, and why is frequency important?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific form?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "examples", "name": "Examples", "description": "Examples and research.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "classic", "name": "Classic", "description": "Classic cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "classic-finding", "name": "Classic", "description": "Classic.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are the classic cases in butterflies and bee and wasp mimics, as Bates, Muller and later researchers described?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "sexual", "name": "Sexual", "description": "Sexual and intraspecific mimicry.", "findings": [ { "id": "sexual-finding", "name": "Sexual", "description": "Sexual.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do female and male mimicry work within species, as research describes?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits sexual selection?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "theory", "name": "Theory", "description": "Theory and genetics.", "rationale": "Science.", "layers": [ { "id": "genetics", "name": "Genetics", "description": "Genetics.", "findings": [ { "id": "genetics-finding", "name": "Genetics", "description": "Genetics.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is known about the genetics of mimicry, such as supergenes in Heliconius?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "debates", "name": "Debates", "description": "Debates.", "findings": [ { "id": "debates-finding", "name": "Debates", "description": "Debates.", "questions": [ { "text": "What debates exist about imperfect mimicry and classification, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation attributed?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "History and applications.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did Bates and Muller discover mimicry, and how did it support Darwin?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the history of evolutionary biology?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "applications", "name": "Applications", "description": "Applications.", "findings": [ { "id": "applications-finding", "name": "Applications", "description": "Applications.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is mimicry applied in biomimetics, pest control and design?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits biomimetics?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should Batesian and Mullerian mimicry be separate entries?", "How should research literature be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming specific forms and taxa; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a mimicry, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain mimicry and its kinds, relay classic examples and research with attribution, describe its role in evolutionary theory, and distinguish mimicry from camouflage and convergence.", "characteristics": { "substance": "abstract", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: phagomimicry, bee or wasp mimicry, mimicry in butterflies, Gilbertian mimicry, female mimicry, male mimicry, leaf mimicry, Müllerian mimicry, ant mimicry, Batesian mimicry, Wasmannian mimicry, automimicry.", "17 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 58 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a mimicry, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "an abstraction with no physical instance", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "phagomimicry", "bee or wasp mimicry", "mimicry in butterflies", "Gilbertian mimicry", "female mimicry", "male mimicry", "leaf mimicry", "Müllerian mimicry", "ant mimicry", "Batesian mimicry", "Wasmannian mimicry", "automimicry" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 58 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 17 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one mimicry from another, and a mimicry from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a mimicry, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a mimicry, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a mimicry is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a mimicry, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a mimicry, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a mimicry is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a mimicry sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a mimicry, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a mimicry, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a mimicry is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a mimicry from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a mimicry, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a mimicry, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a mimicry is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a mimicry passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a mimicry between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a mimicry, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a mimicry, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a mimicry is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a mimicry, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a mimicry is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a mimicry, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a mimicry, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a mimicry is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What mimicry is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of mimicry are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is mimicry operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of mimicry and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of mimicry?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as mimicry?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a mimicry came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a mimicry and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a mimicry, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a mimicry, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a mimicry is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a mimicry is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a mimicry, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a mimicry, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a mimicry is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 10, "findings": 12, "questions": 32 } } } }