Mertensian
/məːˈtɛnsɪən/ /məːˈtɛnzɪən/Zoology
adjective
Designating a proposed form of mimicry in which the model is a distasteful or moderately noxious animal and its mimic is a lethal or highly noxious one.
- The highly noxious animal could not itself be the model because a predator could not learn to avoid it (being killed by any encounter). Mertensian mimicry is usually discussed in the context of coral snakes and their apparent mimics, where it is said to occur in conjunction with both Batesian mimicry and Müllerian mimicry..
Origin
1960s; earliest use found in Robert D. Martin (b. 1942). From the name of Robert Mertens, German zoologist, who described such a pattern of mimicry in 1966 + -ian.