Dienstag, 11. Februar 2014

nature as a painter

The fly orhid ophrys insectifera uses an extraordinairy form of mimicry:

It does not only mimic the scent of female flies but also the appearance of the shape and color of a fly:


By doing so it "uses" a rather painterly approach by incorporating even the highlight on the chitinous exoskeleton of an insect.
The bluish spot that you see is the actual local color on the plant itself but it clearly mimics the highlight in the middle and the bluish skylight around it (as described in Gurney, "Color & Light", pg 28).

Seems to work out fine.

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