Fig. 5

Melanin as a main structural component of structural coloration. (a) Multilayer thin films composed of melanosomes in the male Lawes’ parotia’s breast feathers. (Scale bar: 5 μm). Reproduced with permission (Stavenga et al. 2011). Copyright 2011, The Royal Society. (b) Non-close packed melanosomes in the wing feathers of the green-winged teal. (Scale bar: 500 nm). Reproduced under the terms of CC BY license (Xiao et al. 2017). Copyright 2017, The Authors. Published by The American Association for the Advancement of Science. (c) Close packed hollow melanosomes in the feather barbules of the violet-backed starling. (Scale bar: 500 nm). Reproduced with permission (Eliason et al. 2013). Copyright 2013, The Authors. Published by The Royal Society. (d) Layered hollow platelet-shaped melanosomes in the gorget feathers of the white-booted racket-tail hummingbird. (Scale bar: 500 nm). Reproduced with permission (Eliason et al. 2020). Copyright 2020, Wiley