Classical lepidopteran wing scale colouration in the giant butterfly-moth Paysandisia archon
| Autor: | Martin F. Wehling, Doekele G. Stavenga, Gregor Belušič, Primož Pirih, Kazimir Drašlar, Hein L. Leertouwer, Andrej Meglič |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Pigments Materials science animal structures Thin films Paysandisia archon lcsh:Medicine Orange (colour) Castniidae General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology 03 medical and health sciences Botany Melanin Ommochrome Wing biology General Neuroscience lcsh:R General Medicine biology.organism_classification 030104 developmental biology Spectrophotometry Butterfly Eyespot General Agricultural and Biological Sciences Structural coloration |
| Zdroj: | PeerJ, Vol 6, p e4590 (2018) |
| ISSN: | 2167-8359 |
| Popis: | The palm borer moth Paysandisia archon (Castniidae; giant butterfly-moths) has brown dorsal forewings and strikingly orange-coloured dorsal hindwings with white spots surrounded by black margins. Here, we have studied the structure and pigments of the wing scales in the various coloured wing areas, applying light and electron microscopy and (micro)spectrophotometry, and we analysed the spatial reflection properties with imaging scatterometry. The scales in the white spots are unpigmented, those in the black and brown wing areas contain various amounts of melanin, and the orange wing scales contain a blue-absorbing ommochrome pigment. In all scale types, the upper lamina acts as a diffuser and the lower lamina as a thin film interference reflector, with thickness of about 200 nm. Scale stacking plays an important role in creating the strong visual signals: the colour of the white eyespots is created by stacks of unpigmented blue scales, while the orange wing colour is strongly intensified by stacking the orange scales. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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