Structural absorption by
barbule microstructures of super black bird of paradise feathers.
Variations in the microscopic characters such as node shape, length of downy
barbule, and pigmentation patterns may be used to assign an unknown feather sample to the taxonomic level of order or family if diagnostic characters are found in the sample.
Differently from
barbule and barb cortical cells that accumulate feather keratin, barb medullary cells undergo to lipid degeneration.
The jaw and lack of a chin
barbule reveal the difference when look alike coalfish, a fellow member of the cod family, hunt for food in the same area.
The scientists found that the outside layer of each
barbule consisted of a two-dimensional crystal structure composed of melanin rods.
feather shaft split in feather shaft barb
barbule View through a microscope
The overall feather quality was diminished with lack of
barbule integrity because the duck was unable to properly preen itself without falling.
Downy barbs that were initially sampled from the base of these feathers had microscopic characters that consisted of very long
barbules, many rounded nodes that were uniformly distributed along the
barbule, and pigment at the nodes.
He explains that, in most birds, reds and greens are created by pigmentation derived from carotenoid-rich food and copper-based compounds, while blues are entirely reflected from tiny air particles embedded in colourless feather
barbules (pp.
Primary feathers were worn at the margins, with discontinuous
barbules between barbs, and the calamus was occasionally pinched.
Each day of oviposition, the
barbules with the eggs attached were removed with fine-tipped scissors and placed on sheets of blue paper to facilitate observation of the eggs.