Sexual differences in spectral sensitivity and wing colouration of 13 species of Japanese Thecline butterflies (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)

Imafuku, Michio

doi:10.14411/eje.2013.058

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…These are generated by nanoporous multi-layer photonic nanostructures which are located in the lumen of the cover scales (figures 8 and 9 ). The structural colours are important in the life of these insects, as they are used as sexual signalling colours [ 41 , 42 ], therefore their effective perceptibility is crucial. It seems likely that the changes in the wing scale nanoarchitectures have resulted from evolutionary pressure driven by perceptibility.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wide-gamut structural colours on oakblue butterflies by naturally tuned photonic nanoarchitectures

et al. 2023

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The iridescent structural colours of butterflies, generated by photonic nanoarchitectures, often function as species-specific sexual signals; therefore, they are reproduced precisely from generation to generation. The wing scales of oakblue hairstreak butterflies (genus Arhopala , Theclinae, Lycaenidae, Lepidoptera) contain multi-layer photonic nanoarchitectures, which can generate a wide range of structural colours, from violet to green. By scanning (SEM) and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigation, the colour tuning mechanism of the cover scales was explored. We revealed that the characteristic size change of structural elements in similar photonic nanoarchitectures led to different structural colours that were examined by various reflectance spectrophotometry techniques. The measured structural properties of the naturally tuned photonic nanoarchitectures were used to calculate wing reflectances, which were compared with the measurement results. We found that the simulated structural colours were systematically redshifted by 95–126 nm as compared with the measured normal-incidence reflectance results. This is attributed to the swelling of the chitinous multi-layer structures during the standard TEM sample preparation and the tilt of the cover scales, which both affect the apparent layer thicknesses in the TEM cross-sections. We proposed a simulation correction and compared the results with the layer thicknesses measured on cryogenically prepared non-embedded SEM cross-sections.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wide-gamut structural colours on oakblue butterflies by naturally tuned photonic nanoarchitectures

et al. 2023

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“…Color sense in butterflies is widely known (Arikawa et al, 1987;Bernard and Remington, 1991;Qiu and Arikawa, 2003), including Theclini species (Imafuku and Tsuji, 2008;Imafuku, 2013). Further, it has been observed that males of the present species discriminated a brown wing model of the female from a green wing model of the male (Imafuku and Kitamura, 2015), and that males of the closely related Favonius taxila (Bremer) alit on a site with a bright green male model less frequently than on a site with a dull green male model (Imafuku and Hirose, 2016), suggesting that the bright wing color of males of this species has a negative effect on establishment of territories by conspecific males.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wing Scale Orientation Alters Reflection Directions in the Green Hairstreak Chrysozephyrus smaragdinus (Lycaenidae; Lepidoptera)

Imafuku

Ogihara

2016

Zoological Science

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There have been only a few reports on the directional reflection of light by butterfly wings. Here, we systematically investigated this phenomenon in a lycaenid butterfly, Chrysozephyrus smaragdinus,in which males have bright green wings based on structural coloration. We used a device that measures intensities of light in hemispherical space by vertical shifting of a sensor and horizontal rotation of the stage carrying the wing, which is illuminated from the top, to determine the direction of light reflected by the fore- and hindwings. The orientation and curvature of wing scales were also examined microscopically. The forewing of this species reflected light shone from the top largely forward, whereas the hindwing reflected it slightly forward. This difference was attributed to the tilt angles of the wing scales. Light reflection by the forewing was relatively weak, and widely scattered, whereas that by the hindwing was rather concentrated, resulting in higher reflectance. This difference was attributed to difference in the curvature of the wing scales on the two wings.

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Sexual communication in diurnal moths: behaviors and mechanisms

Chen

Wang

et al. 2020

Int J Trop Insect Sci

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Sexual differences in spectral sensitivity and wing colouration of 13 species of Japanese Thecline butterflies (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)

Cited by 5 publications

References 47 publications

Wide-gamut structural colours on oakblue butterflies by naturally tuned photonic nanoarchitectures

Wide-gamut structural colours on oakblue butterflies by naturally tuned photonic nanoarchitectures

Wing Scale Orientation Alters Reflection Directions in the Green Hairstreak Chrysozephyrus smaragdinus (Lycaenidae; Lepidoptera)

Sexual communication in diurnal moths: behaviors and mechanisms

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