Precise colocalization of interacting structural and pigmentary elements generates extensive color pattern variation in Phelsuma lizards.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Color traits in animals play crucial roles in thermoregulation, photoprotection, camouflage, and visual communication, and are amenable to objective quantification and modeling. However, the extensive variation in non-melanic pigments and structural colors in squamate reptiles has been largely disregarded. Here, we used an integrated approach to investigate the morphological basis and physical mechanisms generating variation in color traits in tropical day geckos of the genus Phelsuma.

Results

Combining histology, optics, mass spectrometry, and UV and Raman spectroscopy, we found that the extensive variation in color patterns within and among Phelsuma species is generated by complex interactions between, on the one hand, chromatophores containing yellow/red pterid

SUBMITTER: Saenko SV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4021644 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature