Hummingbird plumage color diversity exceeds the known gamut of all other birds.

A color gamut quantitatively describes the diversity of a taxon's integumentary coloration as seen by a specific organismal visual system. We estimated the plumage color gamut of hummingbirds (Trochilidae), a family known for its diverse barbule structural coloration, using a tetrahedral avian color stimulus space and spectra from a taxonomically diverse sample of 114 species. The spectra sampled occupied 34.

Wolbachia-Free Heteropterans Do Not Produce Defensive Chemicals or Alarm Pheromones.

The true bugs, or heteropterans, are known for their widespread production of anti-predator chemicals and alarm pheromones in scent glands, a derived trait that constitutes one of the defining characters of the suborder Heteroptera and a potential novel trait that contributed to their diversification. We investigated whether symbiotic bacteria could be involved in the formation of these chemicals using Thasus neocalifornicus, a coreid bug that produces semiochemicals frequently found in other bugs. Using DNA phylogenetic methodology and experiments using antibiotics coupled with molecular techniques, we identified Wolbachia as the microorganism infecting the scent glands of this bug.