...Bor-Kai Hsiung; Todd A. Blackledge; Matthew D. Shawkey ABSTRACT Melanin pigments are broadly distributed in nature – from bacteria to fungi to plants and animals. However, many previous attempts to identify melanins in spiders were unsuccessful, suggesting that these otherwise ubiquitous pigments...

... hypodermis. Despite the difference in colour triggered by this adaptive response, total levels of the predominant carotenoid pigment, astaxanthin, are not modified, suggesting that another mechanism is regulating this phenomenon. Astaxanthin binds to a specific protein called crustacyanin (CRCN...

...-mail: Helge.Knuettel@uni-bayreuth.de ) 19 4 2001 © The Company of Biologists Limited 2001 2001 insect butterfly animal–plant interaction vision signal colour pigment ultraviolet light flavonoid behaviour mate choice Lycaenidae Polyommatus icarus principal component analysis spectral...