"The mirror spider can rapidly shift a patchwork of minuscule reflective plates underneath its abdomen's outer surface, altering the pattern of mirrorlike flashes. This uncommon display comes from common building blocks: Similar tilelike arrangements of plates and soft joints appear throughout the tree of life, from turtle shells to tropical fruit peels. Researchers have now compiled 100 examples of this pattern across animals, plants, microbes and viruses, which they describe in PNAS Nexus."
"Study co-author Mason Dean, a biologist at City University of Hong Kong, first noted a regular tiled pattern in micro computed tomography scans of a ray skeleton. He was surprised to find that what looked like pixelated graininess was actually a mosaic of tiny hexagons and pentagons packed edge to edge across the cartilage. Humboldt University of Berlin zoologist Jana Ciecierska-Holmes, also a co-author, began looking for tile examples and was similarly surprised to spot intricate interlocking plates on the outer coating of millet seeds."
The mirror spider shifts a patchwork of tiny reflective plates under its abdominal surface to alter mirrorlike flashes. Similar tilelike arrangements of plates and soft joints occur across animals, plants, microbes and viruses, appearing in structures from turtle shells to tropical fruit peels. A compilation cataloged about 100 examples of such tessellated architectures. The focus on true tessellations highlights discrete geometric tiles separated by softer seams rather than visual patterns or hollow lattices. A comparative framework describes tile composition, shapes, connections and functions. The results reveal repeated structural parallels across diverse lineages without shared ancestry.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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