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Brilliant iridescence of Morpho butterfly wing scales is due to both a thin film lower lamina and a multilayered upper lamina
- Source :
- Journal of Comparative Physiology. A, Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology, Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 202(5), 381-388. SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2016.
-
Abstract
- Butterflies belonging to the nymphalid subfamily, Morphinae, are famous for their brilliant blue wing coloration and iridescence. These striking optical phenomena are commonly explained as to originate from multilayer reflections by the ridges of the wing scales. Because the lower lamina of the scales of related nymphalid butterflies, the Nymphalinae, plays a dominant role in the wing coloration, by acting as a thin film reflector, we investigated single blue scales of three characteristic Morpho species: M. epistrophus, M. helenor and M. cypris. The experimental data obtained by spectrophotometry, scatterometry and scanning electron microscopy demonstrated that also in the Morpho genus the lower lamina of both the cover and ground scales acts as an optical thin film reflector, contributing importantly to the blue structural coloration of the wings. Melanin pigment has a contrast-enhancing function in a sub-class of ground scales. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00359-016-1084-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Physiology
Nymphalinae
02 engineering and technology
Nymphalidae
03 medical and health sciences
Behavioral Neuroscience
Optics
Species Specificity
Melanin
Journal Article
Animals
Wings, Animal
Animal coloration
Scatterometry
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Original Paper
Wing
biology
business.industry
Pigmentation
Morpho
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
biology.organism_classification
Iridescence
030104 developmental biology
Spectrophotometry
Microspectrophotometry
Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
Morphinae
Animal Science and Zoology
0210 nano-technology
business
Butterflies
Structural coloration
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14321351 and 03407594
- Volume :
- 202
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Comparative Physiology. A, Neuroethology, Sensory, Neural, and Behavioral Physiology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....2b44df46248b61dbf059578b1b60b25a