Dr. Victoria WelchMost people are familiar with the bright metallic blue butterflies of the rainforest, or shiny green beetles sold as ornaments, both of which are coloured, not by pigments, but by structures within the organisms that reflect some wavelengths (colours) of light and not others. There are large numbers of less well known organisms with structural colouration and these colours are not always shiny and metallic. My research concerns structural colouration like this - its physiology, evolution and the assembly of colour-producing structures by cells. I'm currently working on aspects of structural colouration in beetles as part of a 2 year fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. Photo copyright Victoria Welch, 2004, with thanks to the Natural History Museum, Oxford University Museum of Natural History, R. Thompson & D. Mann. If you wish to use this images, please contact me at Victoria.Welch@zoo.ox.ac.uk |
 An African butterfly with subtle pearly pink and purple structural colouration |
