Editing Alfred Russel Wallace (section)

==== Warning coloration and sexual selection ====
{{further|The Colours of Animals}}

[[File:Darwinism 1889 Fig. 26 image of mimicry.jpg|thumb|upright|Illustration of [[Batesian mimicry]]: a wasp (top) mimicked by a beetle in Wallace's 1889 book ''Darwinism''|alt=see caption]]

[[Aposematism|Warning coloration]]<!--Brit. usage is colour, but coloration, see [[structural coloration]] for detailed explanation--> was one of Wallace's contributions to the evolutionary biology of [[Colours of animals|animal coloration]].{{sfn|Slotten|2004|pp=251–254}} In 1867, Darwin wrote to Wallace about a problem in explaining how some caterpillars could have evolved conspicuous colour schemes. Darwin had come to believe that many conspicuous animal colour schemes were due to sexual selection, but he saw that this could not apply to caterpillars. Wallace responded that he and Bates had observed that many of the most spectacular butterflies had a peculiar odour and taste, and that he had been told by [[John Jenner Weir]] that birds would not eat a certain kind of common white moth because they found it unpalatable. Since the moth was as conspicuous at dusk as a coloured caterpillar in daylight, it seemed likely that the conspicuous colours served as a warning to predators and thus could have evolved through natural selection. Darwin was impressed by the idea. At a later meeting of the Entomological Society, Wallace asked for any evidence anyone might have on the topic.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Frederick |year=1867 |title=March 4, 1867 |journal=Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London |volume=15 |issue=7 |pages=509–566 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2311.1967.tb01466.x}}</ref> In 1869, Weir published data from experiments and observations involving brightly coloured caterpillars that supported Wallace's idea.{{sfn|Slotten|2004|pp=253–254}}<!--mentioned also in Wallace's ''Darwinism'', ch. 9, and in [http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=side&itemID=F1548.1&pageseq=322 a letter by Darwin to A. Weismann on 1 May 1875]--> Wallace attributed less importance than Darwin to sexual selection. In his 1878 book ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73563 Tropical Nature and Other Essays]'', he wrote extensively about the [[Animal coloration|coloration of animals]] and plants, and proposed alternative explanations for a number of cases Darwin had attributed to sexual selection.{{sfn|Slotten|2004|pp=353–356}} He revisited the topic at length in his 1889 book ''Darwinism''. In 1890, he wrote a critical review in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' of his friend [[Edward Bagnall Poulton]]'s ''[[The Colours of Animals]]'' which supported Darwin on sexual selection, attacking especially Poulton's claims on the "aesthetic preferences of the insect world".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wallace |first=Alfred Russel |title=[Review] The Colours of Animals |journal=Nature |volume=42 |pages=289–291 |date=24 July 1890 |issue=1082 |doi=10.1038/042289a0 |bibcode=1890Natur..42..289W |s2cid=27117910 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1429319 }}</ref><ref name="Nature">{{cite web |url=https://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/S424.htm | title=The Colours of Animals |last=Wallace |first=Alfred Russel |website=The Alfred Russel Wallace Page |access-date=25 May 2022 }}</ref>