Thayer, R.C., Polston, E.S., Xu, J., & Begun, D.J. (2024). Regional specialization, polyploidy, and seminal fluid transcripts in the Drosophila female reproductive tract. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121 (44) e2409850121 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2409850121

Media Coverage:

UC Davis news: "Invisible anatomy in the fruit fly uterus"

The Scientist Magazine: "How Cryptic Female Choice Shapes the Evolution of Species"

Thayer, R.C., Polston, E.S., Hanna, G., & Begun, D.J. (2025). No evidence of sexually antagonistic coevolution in Drosophila reproductive tract transcriptomes. Molecular Biology and Evolution, msaf210.

Thayer, R. C., Allen, F. I., & Patel, N. H. (2020). Structural color in Junonia butterflies evolves by tuning scale lamina thickness. eLife 2020;9:e52187. 

Media coverage:

Physics World: "Scientists identify gene responsible for butterfly’s dazzling structural colours"

Berkeley News: "What do soap bubbles and butterflies have in common?"

National Science Foundation News: video link

Marine Biological Laboratory: "The Evolution of Color: Team Shows How Butterfly Wings Can Shift in Hue"

Phys.org: link

The Scientist Magazine: Image of the Day

de Volkskrant: link

Discover Magazine: Imaging the Imperceptible see also image via NSF

Berkeley Science Review: link

Thayer, R.C.  (2020). University of California, Berkeley ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. 28090832

Thayer, R. C., Allen, F. I., & Patel, N. H. (2020). Structural color in Junonia butterflies evolves by tuning scale lamina thickness. eLife 2020;9:e52187. 

Thayer, R. C., & Patel, N. H. (2023). A meta-analysis of butterfly structural colors: their color range, distribution, and biological production. Journal of Experimental Biology,226(21): jeb245940.

See also my database, which you can use to explore all characterized butterfly structural colors (>300 cases; up to date as of fall 2023).

My interview with JEB's Early Career Researcher series, associated with this work: link