In many animals, including insects, coloration is formed by the animal’s nanostructure, which bends and reflects light, rather than by pigments. Studying how nature creates such so-called structural colors could provide inspiration for new optical materials. However, the development of nanostructures is poorly understood. For example, how do cells coordinate to form the structural colors found in nature? This project will study how cells in Easter Egg weevils collaborate during development to form intricate structures with unique optical properties. Examining these biological systems should inform development of new technologies that harness light for a wide variety of applications, including enhanced scattering layers in solar cells, advanced light-based signaling systems for anti-counterfeiting materials, bio-inspired optical components for defense applications, and the production of natural food dyes. The project will also provide training opportunities for students in cutting-edge genomic research, which has broad applications in human health. Easter Egg weevils in the genus Pachyrhynchus display elaborate patterning and iridescent colors in their hard cuticles, serving as elements in a mimetic system that helps defend against predation and may make the weevils distasteful to their predators. These beetles constitute a unique opportunity to study the extent to which convergent phenotypes arise from parallel mechanisms involving production of structural colors formed