Head of the Optics and Biomimetics Research Sub-Group
Department of Zoology University of Oxford
Oxford, U.K.
Royal Society Research Fellow.
Research Interests : 1- Cypridinid (Myodocopid Ostracoda) systematics, behaviour and evolution.
2- Animal optics and evolution.
3- Adaptation to extreme environments.
Nature has produced optimal designs of nanoscale optical structures, from given materials, through millions of years of evolution. These may have commercial applications. For instance, an antireflector found on a flies eye is now employed on solar panels. One new design with great potential, the photonic crystal fibre, exists in the sea mouse Aphrodita. This and other structures causing colour in nature are being studied. Also there are implications for evolution here – some structures are emerging in fossils, including those of the Burgess shale (515 Ma). As an extension of this work, Dr Parker is investigating the adaptation of animal structures to heat (infrared radiation), along with general adaptations to extreme environments.
Selected Publications : Parker, A.R., Discovery of functional iridescence and its coevolution with eyes in the phylogeny of Ostracoda (Crustacea). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences (1995) 262, 349-355.
Parker, A.R., Functional morphology of the myodocopin (Ostracoda) furca, sclerotized body plate and central adductor muscles. Journal of Crustacean Biology (1997) 17, 632-653.
Parker, A.R., Mating behaviour in Myodocopina ostracods (Crustacea): results from video recordings of a highly iridescent cypridinid. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK (1997) 77, 1223-1226.
Parker, A.R., Exoskeleton, distribution and movement of the flexible setules on the myodocopine (Ostracoda: Myodocopa) first antenna. Journal of Crustacean Biology (1998) 18, 95-110.
Parker, A.R., Two new cypridinid genera and species from New South Wales, Australia (Crustacea: Ostracoda: Myodocopina). Records of the Australian Museum (1998) 50, 1-17.
Parker, A.R., Vargula karamu, a new species of luminescent ostracod (Cypridinidae, Myodocopina) from a baited trap off Tasmania, Australia. Journal of Natural History (1998) 32, 645-660.
Parker, A.R., Colour in Burgess Shale animals and the effect of light on evolution in the Cambrian. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences (1998) 265, 967-972.
Parker, A.R., The diversity and implications of animal structural colours. Journal of Experimental Biology (1998) 201, 2343-2347.
Parker, A.R., Light-reflection strategies. American Scientist (1999) 87 (3), 248-255.
Parker, A.R. Reflected glory: the key to insect colours. Biologist (1999) 46 (5), 206-210.
Parker, A.R., Invertebrate structural colours. In: (E. Savazzi, ed.) Functional Morphology of the Invertebrate Skeleton (Wiley, Chichester) (1999), pages 65-90.
Parker, A.R., The Myodocopida (Ostracoda) exoskeleton. In: (E. Savazzi, ed.) Functional Morphology of the Invertebrate Skeleton (Wiley, Chichester) (1999), pages 459-507.
Parker, A.R., An unusually isolated reflector for host bioluminescence on the second antenna of a lysianassoid (Amphipoda: Gammaridea). In: (F.R. Schram and J.C. von Vaupel Klein, eds.) Crustaceans and the Biodiversity Crisis (Crustaceana) (Brill, Leiden) (1999), pages 879-887.
Parker, A.R., 515 Million years of structural colour. Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics (2000) 2, R15-28.
Parker, A.R., The coelotrich: form and function of an unusual sensillum in Lowrya (Ostracoda: Myodocopina: Cypridinidae). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences (2000) 355, 1121-1124.
Parker, A.R., Diffracting optics in animals: colour from transparent materials. Photonics Science News (2000) 6 (1/2), 40-47.
Parker, A.R., Hegedus, Z. and Watts, R.A., Solar-absorber type antireflector on the eye of an Eocene fly (45Ma). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences (1998) 265, 811-815.
Parker, A.R., McKenzie, D.R. and Ahyong, S.T., A unique form of light reflector and the evolution of signalling in Ovalipes (Crustacea: Decapoda: Portunidae). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences (1998) 265, 861-867.
Parker, A.R., McKenzie, D.R. and Large, C.J., Multilayer reflectors in animals using green and gold beetles as contrasting examples. Journal of Experimental Biology (1998) 201, 1307-1313.
Bennett, M.B., Heupel, M.R. Bennett, S.M. & Parker, A.R., Sheina orri (Myodocopa: Cypridinidae), an ostracod parasitic on the gills of the Epaulette Shark, Hemiscyllium ocellatum (Elasmobranchii: Hemiscyllidae). International Journal for Parasitology (1997) 27, 275-281.
Tsukagoshi, A. & Parker, A.R., Trunk segmentation of some podocopine lineages in Ostracoda. Hydrobiologia (2000) 419, 15-30.
Nicorovici, N.-A.P., Asatryan, A.A., Botten, L.C., Busch, K., McPhedran, R.C., de Sterke, C.M., Robinson, P.A., Smith, G.H., McKenzie, D.R., & Parker, A.R., In: (C.M. Soukoulkis, ed.) Multipole methods for photonic crystal calculations, NATO Science Series C: Mathematical and Physical Sciences (Kluwer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands) (2001) 563, 527-534.
Large, M.C.J., McKenzie, D.R., Parker, A.R., Steel, B.C., Ho, K., Bosi, S.G., Nicorovici, N. & McPhedran, R.C. The mechanism of light reflectance in silverfish. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Mathematical and Physical Sciences (2001) 457, 511-518.
Nishida, S., Ohtsuka, S. & Parker, A.R. Functional morphology and food habits in the deep-sea copepods of the genus Cephalophanes (Calanoida: Phaennidae): possible perception of bioluminescence in food detection. Marine Ecology Progress Series (2001).
PARKER, ANDREW R. 