In biology, describing an animal marking, coloration, or signal that serves to communicate information to other animals, such as warning colors that say 'I'm poisonous.'
From Greek 'epi' (upon, beyond) and 'sema' (sign, signal) plus '-tic.' The term describes markings that have meaning beyond simple appearance—they actively communicate.
A bright red frog's coloring isn't just pretty—it's an episematic signal saying 'eat me and you'll die.' Evolution literally turned colors into a language that predators understand without ever encountering the poison.
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