# gene: the generation of color pattern in ladybird beetle (H. axyridis aka harlequin ladybird).

<< Many ladybirds have attractive color patterns consisting of black and red. This prominent color pattern is thought to function as a warning that indicates to predators that they are very bitter and unpalatable. >>

AA << focused on the multicolored Asian ladybird beetle Harmonia axyridis (also known as the harlequin ladybird), which lives mainly in Siberia and East Asia, and shows >200 color patterns within a species. The team has identified a single gene that regulates such highly diverse ladybird color patterns. >>

A mechanism of color pattern formation in ladybird beetles. National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Japan. Sep 26, 2018.

https://m.phys.org/news/2018-09-mechanism-pattern-formation-ladybird-beetles.html

Toshiya Ando, Takeshi M Matsuda, et al. Repeated inversions within a pannier intron drive diversification of intraspecific colour patterns of ladybird beetles. Nature Communications 9, 3843. Sep 21, 2018.  doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-06116-1.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06116-1