These Beetles Are Bright and Shiny… For Camouflage

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Jewel beetles are pretty eye-catching with their glossy, bright coloration. But if you were a small creature that needed to avoid predators, you might think that eye-catching is the last thing you'd want to be. But it turns out that their iridescence doesn’t hinder their camouflage...it IS their camouflage!

Hosted by: Stefan Chin

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Sources:
https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(19)31608-2?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982219316082%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2706478/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2586663/
https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/18/6/1123/211740
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4424625/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5970230/

Images:
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/image-of-green-legged-metallic-beetle-or-jewel-beetle-or-metallic-wood-boring-beetle-gm1176768288-328240101
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rainbow_boa_peruvian.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Haliotis_iris_LC0283.jpg
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/jewel-beetles-gm1226562238-361432452
https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/221783.php?from=452853
https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/221907.php
https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/pastel-colored-holographic-background-gm1136408675-302643224