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En portant son regard sur le droit dans les pays d’Afrique francophone, une constante apparaît, le conflit entre tradition et modernité ou entre coutume et droit moderne. Le droit pénal n’échappe pas à ce conflit qui a un impact sur la politique criminelle des États depuis les indépendances jusqu’à nos jours. C’est pourquoi une réflexion sur « le droit pénal africinsous tension : entre tradition et modernité » mérite d’être menée. En effet, les études et articles foisonnent sur la question de la tradition et de la modernité en droit. Le plurijuridisme qui en résulte a aussi fait l’objet de nombreuses études. Mais ces études font très rarement cas de l’impact de cette situation sur les politiques criminelles étatiques. On constate également, au-delà de la seule critique de principe du mimétisme, une absence d’études spécifiques sur les conséquences de ce conflit sur la qualité des législations. D’ailleurs, ce mimétisme suffit-il à lui seul à expliquer ce conflit et ses conséquences sur la vie juridique ? La présente étude ne manque donc pas d’intérêt et constitue un apport à la perception de la situation juridique des Etats d’Afrique francophone en matière pénale tout autant qu’elle propose la construction d’un Droit Africain. / By focusing on the law in the countries of Francophone Africa, a constant appears, the conflict between tradition and modernity or between custom and modern law. Criminal law is not immune to this conflict, which has an impact on the criminal policies of states since independence to the present day. This is why a reflection on "criminal law in French-speaking African countries between tradition and modernity" deserves to be carried out. Indeed, studies and articles abound on the question of tradition and modernity in law. The resulting plurijuridism has also been the subject of many studies. But these studies rarely mention the impact of this situation on state criminal policies. Beyond the mere criticism of mimicry, there is also a lack of specific studies on the consequences of this conflict on the quality of legislation. Moreover, is this mimicry enough to explain this conflict and its consequences on legal life? The present study does not lack interest and constitutes a contribution to the perception of the legal situation of the States of Francophone Africa in criminal matters just as much as it proposes the construction of an African Law.

Vocal mimicry is well documented in songbirds, yet the function of this behaviour is poorly understood. I studied vocal mimicry in a wild population of male spotted bowerbirds Ptilonorhynchus maculatus to determine whether there was any support for the proposed functional hypotheses invoked to explain this behaviour. I collected observational data to determine what species male bowerbirds mimicked and how their mimetic repertoires related to the acoustic environment. Spotted bowerbirds preferentially mimicked the vocalisations of aggressive species, which is consistent with mimicry acting to deter predators or competitors (Batesian mimicry). However, these sounds were also relatively simple in terms of their structure, and may be mimicked purely due to their simplicity and similarity to the species-specific hiss. A survey of mimetic repertoires at three geographically isolated populations revealed a similar pattern in model choice: mimetic repertoires were predominantly composed of aggressive and predatory species but these sounds were also structurally simple. To test whether mimicry was used in a Batesian context I determined what contexts mimicry was produced in. Consistent with predictions, I found that males did not increase their mimetic rate in the presence of conspecifics but did increase their mimetic rate in response to human activity around the bower. To determine how mimetic sounds are acquired in this species, I compared the mimetic repertoires of individuals within a population and found that males with bowers closer together mimicked more of the same species than did males with bowers that were further apart. Closer inspection of two of these mimicked sounds revealed that neighbouring males did not produce structurally similar mimicry,which suggests that mimetic sounds are learned directly from the species being mimicked. Males did not increase their rate of species-specific vocalisation when mimetic rate increased, so these vocalisations are unlikely to serve the same function. Males increased their rate of species-specific hissing when in the presence of conspecifics and this vocalisation is likely to function in intraspecific communication. Males also produced ‘advertisement’ calls when alone at the bower that are likely to attract females to the bower or deter rival males. These vocalisations are a long distance signal that varied in structure in three populations of bowerbird. I discuss potential explanations for geographic variation in the structure of bowerbird vocalisations. Vocalisations may be part of the multi-component sexual signal produced by bowerbirds, but I found no relationship between any aspect of male vocalisation and predicted mating success, so these vocalisations are unlikely to indicate male quality to potential mates or rival males. In conclusion, it seems most likely that mimicry in this species is used to deter predators or competitors, but I cannot exclude the hypothesis that mimetic sounds are learned as a result of their relative simplicity and salience in the acoustic environment. Furthermore, I have shown that mimetic sounds in this species are most likely acquired directly from the species being mimicked. These findings are a useful step towards understanding the function and evolution of this fascinating behaviour.

Dracula orchids are hypothesized to rely on mushroom mimicry for pollination. These orchids look and smell like mushrooms and are pollinated by mushroom-associated flies in the family Drosophilidae. Dracula includes over 130 species, representing a significant radiation, yet there has never been a systematic study of their pollination biology. Elucidating the processes and mechanisms of pollination in these flowers will broaden our understanding of mimicry within the Orchidaceae, a family well known for its diverse pollination strategies, as well as add to the growing literature on the evolution and maintenance of communication signals. In this study we demonstrate the co-occurrence of the mimics and the putative mushroom models, which is important for evolution by natural selection. We also showed that the resemblance to mushrooms is in fact adaptive, a requisite for floral mimicry. We did this by determining that insect visitors are required for pollination and subsequent fruit set with a hand pollination experiment. We also measured increased visitation rates to the orchids when adjacent to mushrooms. The mechanisms whereby plants attract pollinators can be diverse and often multi-modal, particularly in deceptive systems. Dracula orchids are no exception, with both visual and olfactory signals contributing to the overall success in attracting visitors. We used a series of experiments, first selectively masking the visual and olfactory cues successively, and then using 3D-printed artificial flowers to further disentangle these cues and determine their effect in combination. Upon confirmation that both play a role, we dissected each aspect further. We utilized the artificial flowers to determine the roles of color, contrast, and pattern and employed gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy to identify the volatile signals. The results show that fine-scale contrast is critical to the visual component and that these flowers produce the volatile `mushroom-alcohol' (1-octen-3-ol) in their labella. Finally, we specifically address the hypothesis of brood-site mimicry by using a combination of field observations, insect collections, and rearing studies. The flies gain shelter, a rendezvous location, and food from the flowers. However, no mushroom visiting flies hatched from the flowers, suggesting this may be a brood-site mimicry. This dissertation includes previously unpublished co-authored material. / 2015-09-29

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Pigmentation patterns can be used as a communication signal in a variety of taxa, and can convey information relative to sexual selection, dominance, and species identification. Pigmentation is also sometimes used in mimicry to deceive the signal receiver into thinking the signaler is something other than itself. Mimicry can occur in several contexts, including sexual interactions, where one sex mimics another. There are relatively few examples of species with females that mimic males. Proposed hypotheses to explain female mimicry of males are that mimicry is used to reduce male harassment or that mimicry is used to display dominance over other females. In this study, we tested these two hypotheses using an experimental approach. Researchers have hypothesized that Brachyrhaphis fishes provide an example of sexual mimicry because females have pigmentation of the same coloration and shape, and in the same location as male genitalia. To test if female mimicry of males reduces male harassment, we designed an experiment to observe male preference for females with and without male-like pigmentation. To test the effect that female mimicry of males has on female dominance, we observed female behavior based on the pigmentation patterns of companion females. We found that neither of these hypotheses was supported by our data. We conclude that similarities in anal fin pigmentation between male and female Brachyrhaphis fishes cannot be explained as a way to reduce male harassment of females and is not a good predictor of female dominance interactions. Alternative explanations must exist for this pattern of anal fin coloration include the possibility that these similarities are simply non-adaptive.

<p>The novel White teeth by Zadie Smith has been the object of my study in this essay. The aim of this study was to explore what the text communicated to the reader about hybridity and mimicry in the portrayal of some of the characters in the two families in White Teeth. The focus is on the male characters within the two families, as identity is created differently for men and women.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

The novel White teeth by Zadie Smith has been the object of my study in this essay. The aim of this study was to explore what the text communicated to the reader about hybridity and mimicry in the portrayal of some of the characters in the two families in White Teeth. The focus is on the male characters within the two families, as identity is created differently for men and women.

Abstract Warning Colors by Robert McClure Warning Colors is a piece for orchestra scored for three flutes (second flute doubling alto flute in G and third flute doubling piccolo), two oboes, one english horn in F, two clarinets in Bb, one bass clarinet in Bb, three bassoons, four horns in F, three trumpets in C, two tenor trombones, one bass trombone, tuba, timpani, three percussion, harp, piano doubling celeste, and strings. The title is a phrase used in evolutionary biology in relation to the behavior of mimicry which is the core musical concept of the work. While writing a piece called Desert Miniatures: Insects for three bassoons in the summer of 2012, I learned about a butterfly, the Arizona Red Spotted Purple from the Sonoran Desert in Arizona which employs mimicry. The physical appearance of the butterfly has evolved to resemble another, noxious species of butterfly in the region, the Pipevine Swallowtail. The Red Spotted Purple is attacked far less because it has developed similar warning colors to the Swallowtail that predators have learned to recognize and avoid. Warning Colors employs three types of musical mimicry. The first is harmonic mimicry in which a stable harmony is presented in either the winds or brass. The strings mimic the harmony by sliding around it using microtones. These moments of harmonic mimicry serve as structural pillars. Second, rhythmic mimicry occurs when a melody or line is performed simultaneously against itself, the mimicking melody having different rhythmic values. The two lines intertwine rhythmically, come into unison, and break away from each other in a heterophonic texture. The third, melodic mimicry, occurs when two or more lines mimic a source by matching its contour. However, these mimics are not the product of a simple transposition because they retain their own internal intervallic characteristics. The concept of mimicry informed many of the musical characteristics displayed and heard in Warning Colors.