Date: May 25, 2018
Source: University of Bristol
Iridescence is a form of
structural colour which uses regular repeating nanostructures to reflect light
at slightly different angles, causing a colour-change effect.
It is common in nature, from the
dazzling blues of peacock's feathers, to the gem-like appearance of insects.
Although using bright flashy
colours as camouflage may seem counterintuitive, researchers at the Bristol
Camo Lab found that intense iridescence obstructs the bumblebee's ability to
identify shape. The eyes of bumblebees have been extensively studied by
scientists and are very similar to those of other insects.
They can be used as a visual
model for predatory insects such as wasps and hornets. When presented with
different types of artificial flower targets rewarded with sugar water, the
bees learned to recognise which shapes contained the sweet reward.
However, they found it much more
difficult to discriminate between flower shape when the targets were
iridescent.
This current study using
bumblebees as a model for (predatory) insect vision and cognition is the first
to show that iridescence indeed has the potential to deceive predators and make
them overlook the prey, the same way disruptive camouflage would work to break
up the otherwise recognisable outline of a prey.
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