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Abstract Color vision is thought to play a key role in the evolution of animal coloration, while achromatic vision is rarely considered as a mechanism for species recognition. Here we test the hypothesis that brightness vision rather than color vision helpsAdelpha fessoniabutterflies identify potential mates while their co-mimetic wing coloration is indiscriminable to avian predators. We examine the trichromatic visual system ofA. fessoniaand characterize its photoreceptors using RNA-seq, eyeshine, epi-microspectrophotometry, and optophysiology. We model the discriminability of its wing color patches in relation to those of its co-mimic,A. basiloides, throughA. fessoniaand avian eyes. Visual modeling suggests that neitherA. fessonianor avian predators can readily distinguish the co-mimics’ coloration using chromatic or achromatic vision under natural conditions. These results suggest that mimetic colors are well-matched to visual systems to maintain mimicry, and that mate avoidance between these two look-alike species relies on other cues.