Principles of Life
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About the Cover
A juvenile pink orchid mantis (Hymenopus coronatus) looks, at first glance, like an orchid flower. Its abdomen, head, and four walking legs look like the petals of the flower, and the small black dot at the posterior tip of the abdomen resembles a small fly investigating the flower. This mimicry is advantageous to the mantid for two reasons. The mantis is concealed from potential predators, which mistake the mantis for a flower. At the same time, insects looking for nectar become prey for the mantis, which captures visiting insects with its front pair of toothed, grasping legs. As a result of these advantages, natural selection favored the evolution of this spectacular example of an insect that resembles an orchid flower. © Ch’ien Lee/Minden Pictures.
Principles of Life, Second Edition
Copyright © 2014 by Sinauer Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hillis, David M.
Principles of life / David M. Hillis, University of Texas at Austin, David Sadava, Emeritus, The Claremont Colleges, Richard W. Hill, Michigan State University, Mary V. Price, Emerita, University of California, Riverside. — Second edition.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-4641-0947-8
1. Biology. I. Title.
QH308.2.P75 2013
570--dc23
2013036105
Printed in U.S.A.
First Printing November 2013
The Courier Companies, Inc.
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To all our students. You have taught us, too, and inspired us to write this book.
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