THE drab, grey world of fossils could soon be awash with colour. A 50-million-year-old brilliant blue beetle has given palaeontologists proof that they can determine the colours of a host of long-extinct species, including birds, butterflies and fish.
Iridescent creatures get their colour from specialised reflective structures rather than a chemical pigment. The shiny part of a beetle’s wing, for instance, is composed of fine layers of cuticle, each of which refracts and reflects light differently. As light hits the structure, it either passes through the layer or is reflected back, depending on its wavelength. The pattern of reflected light,…
