Figure 1: Interspecific variation in avian plumage colouration. To investigate colour diversity among species, we first tested for correlations between sexual dichromatism and ten predictor variables.

Urbanisation introduces deep changes in habitats, eventually creating new urban ecosystems where ecological functions are driven by human activities. The higher frequency of some phenotypes in urban ...

A new study published today in Animal Behaviour shows for the first time that brilliant iridescence and gloss found in some animals can have a protective function by working as a form of deceptive ...

Lepidopterans (butterflies and moths) exhibit a splendid diversity of wing colour patterns, and many species display black and white, or dark and bright, wing colour pattern variants associated with ...

Biologists have discovered that the bright color patterns of beetles are not a warning signal to predators as previously believed, but actually a form of camouflage, turning an old assumption on its ...

The anemonefish is more familiarly known as the clownfish, as its bright colouration reminds of the face painting of a clown. The striking and unique colouration consists of white stripes on an orange ...

THE JEWEL beetle is so called for a reason. When illuminated, the insect’s carapace dazzles with a sparkling green prismatic spray. That this bright colouration sends some sort of signal to the world ...

Jonathan Waters receives funding from the RSNZ Marsden Fund. Graham McCulloch receives funding from the RSNZ Marsden Fund University of Otago provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

Germán Orizaola receives funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the "Ramón y Cajal" Programme (RyC-2016-20656), the British Ecological Society (SR20-1169) and the Spanish ...