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Thursday, January 24, 2008

Pachyrhynchus Argus

According to Andrew Parker, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Oxford in England, the weevil, Pachyrhynchus argus, has patches of scales on the top and sides of its body, some of which contain structures that resemble the spheres in opals + he believes that understanding how the beetle manufactures the tiny structures in its scales may benefit jewelers seeking a less expensive opal + the computer and telecommunications industries seeking to manufacture tiny electronics.

Useful links:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0112_040112_opalbeetle.html
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v426/n6968/full/426786a.html

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