Iridescent structural colour production in male blue-black grassquit feather barbules: the role of keratin and melanin.

ABSTRACT: Iridescent coloration plays an important role in the visual communication system of many animal taxa. It is known that iridescent structural colours result from layers of materials with different refractive indexes, which in feathers usually are keratin, melanin and air. However, the role of these materials in the production of structural iridescent coloration is still poorly documented. Despite the great interspecific variation in the organization of such structures in bird plumage, melanin layers are usually considered too opaque, suggesting its main role is to delineate the outermost keratin layer and absorb incoherently scattered stray light. We combined spectrometry, electron microscopy and thin-film optical modelling to describe the UV-reflecting iridescent colour of feather barbules

SUBMITTER: Maia R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2706474 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature