schemochrome

plural schemochromes

1. biologyColouration produced by microscopic structures that reflect/refract light rather than pigments.

   In some groups a schemochrome overlies a conspicuous biochrome, with spectacular effect.

   1975, Howe, William H, Bauer, David L, The Butterflies of North America, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, page 19

   2 more examples

   First, a blue pigment is known from birds (rhodoxanthin, a xanthophyll producing the blue of fruit pigeons, Ptilinopus; see Buckley 1982 : 61), although the blue of parrots is almost certainly not based on a pigment (biochrome), but rather is a schemochrome (structural color).

   1973, Florida Ornithological Society, The Florida field naturalist, page n183

   The fine scales on the wings of some butterflies and the surface of scarab beetles produce schemochrome colours (Chapman, 1998a).

   2010, Morgan, E. David (Eric David), Biosynthesis in insects, page 272