Tag Archive for 'Coloration'

Intense hot pink morph of an adult female Arota festae photographed on March 27, 2025, on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Image credit: Zeke W. Rowe.

Tropical Bush Cricket’s Hot-Pink Phase May Be Nature’s Perfect Disguise

Mar 16, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Entomologists in Panama have observed a leaf-masquerading katydid species that begins life bright pink before turning green days later, a shift that may...

The sex-linked orange mutation in domestic cats causes variegated patches of reddish/yellow hair and is a defining signature of random X inactivation in female tortoiseshell and calico cats; unlike the situation for most coat color genes, there is no apparent homolog for sex-linked orange in other mammals; Kaelin et al. show that sex-linked orange is caused by a 5-kb deletion that leads to ectopic and melanocyte-specific expression of the Arhgap36 gene. Image credit: Kaelin et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.04.055.

Researchers Identify Genetic Mutation Responsible for Orange Coat in Domestic Cats

May 16, 2025 by News Staff

This mutation is located in the Rho GTPase Activating Protein 36 (Arhgap36) gene and appears to occur in no other mammal, according to a research team...

Habitus and fin positions of Ferruaspis brocksi. Scale bar - 8 mm. Image credit: McCurry et al., doi: 10.1080/02724634.2024.2445684.

Miocene-Period Freshwater Fish Had Opportunistic Benthopelagic Diet

Mar 18, 2025 by News Staff

Paleontologists from the Australian Museum Research Institute, the University of New South Wales, the University of Canberra and CSIRO have described a...

Life reconstruction of Shenshou lui, an extinct squirrel-like euharamiyidan species from the Middle Jurassic of China. Image credit: Nobu Tamura, http://spinops.blogspot.com.

Early Mammals Had Dark and Dusky Grayish-Brown Fur, Study Suggests

Mar 13, 2025 by News Staff

Pelage coloration, which serves numerous functions, is crucial to the evolution of behavior, physiology, and habitat preferences of mammals. However, little...