In some tarantulas, that wavelength happens to be the same shade of blue. The crystalline array acts like a mirror that reflects only a particular wavelength of incoming light. Unlike the pigments that make plant leaves green and flamingos pink, a tarantula’s blue color comes from precisely arranged nanocrystals. “We just don’t know what that function is yet.” “The blue color definitely has a major function, and it’s very specific why they need this color,” Hsiung says. In other words, scientists suspect there’s a good reason the spiders are blue. What’s more, by taking a close look at blue hairs from eight different tarantulas, the team found that the spiders don't all create the blue color in the same way, meaning the color isn’t simply hitching a ride with a different trait that offers the spiders an advantage. In fact, as Hsiung and his colleagues reported today in Science Advances, blue coloration probably evolved independently at least eight times in tarantulas, which are among the most ancient of spiders. Poecilotheria metallica, a critically endangered species, is covered in an intricate geometric blue pattern the burrow-building cobalt blue tarantula ( Haplopelma lividum) is a slightly lighter hue, while the Singapore blue ( Lampropelma violaceopes)-a large, aggressive tree-dweller-has eight dark blue legs arrayed around a golden body. Many tarantulas are quite colorful, and it’s not uncommon for the spiders to wear blue. “We didn’t find the answer to that question,” says the University of Akron’s Bor-Kai Hsiung, spoiling the punchline. Recently, a team of researchers set out to solve one of nature’s little mysteries and determine why, exactly, some tarantulas are such a vibrant hue. Some are stunningly beautiful-and bright blue. Others defend themselves by launching streams of excrement. Some tarantulas are bigger than your face.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |