Ultraviolet Reflection of a Male Butterfly: Interference Color Caused by Thin-Layer Elaboration of Wing Scales

Ghiradella, Helen; Aneshansley, Daniel J.; Eisner, Thomas; Silberglied, Robert E.; Hinton, H. E.

doi:10.1126/science.178.4066.1214

Cited by 191 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

107

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The scales on the wings of many butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) produce striking iridescent colours by interference and diffraction, and have been the focus of many studies on the mechanisms and function of iridescence (e.g. Ghiradella et al 1972;Miaoulis & Heilman 1998;Vukusic et al 1999Plattner 2004;Kemp & Macedonia 2006;Rutowski et al 2007;Ingram & Parker 2008;Poladian et al 2009;Shawkey et al 2009;Vukusic & Stavenga 2009). The pupae of some butterflies also have iridescent markings that change colour as the adult butterfly develops (Steinbrecht et al 1985).…”

Section: Taxonomic Distribution Of Iridescence In Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Iridescence: a functional perspective

Doucet

Meadows

2009

J. R. Soc. Interface.

278

289

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In animals, iridescence is generated by the interaction of light with biological tissues that are nanostructured to produce thin films or diffraction gratings. Uniquely among animal visual signals, the study of iridescent coloration contributes to biological and physical sciences by enhancing our understanding of the evolution of communication strategies, and by providing insights into physical optics and inspiring biomimetic technologies useful to humans. Iridescent colours are found in a broad diversity of animal taxa ranging from diminutive marine copepods to terrestrial insects and birds. Iridescent coloration has received a surge of research interest of late, and studies have focused on both characterizing the nanostructures responsible for producing iridescence and identifying the behavioural functions of iridescent colours. In this paper, we begin with a brief description of colour production mechanisms in animals and provide a general overview of the taxonomic distribution of iridescent colours. We then highlight unique properties of iridescent signals and review the proposed functions of iridescent coloration, focusing, in particular, on the ways in which iridescent colours allow animals to communicate with conspecifics and avoid predators. We conclude with a brief overview of noncommunicative functions of iridescence in animals. Despite the vast amount of recent work on animal iridescence, our review reveals that many proposed functions of iridescent coloration remain virtually unexplored, and this area is clearly ripe for future research.

show abstract

Section: Taxonomic Distribution Of Iridescence In Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Iridescence: a functional perspective

Doucet

Meadows

2009

J. R. Soc. Interface.

278

289

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They arise from multilayer interference generated by a complex architecture of alternating airecuticle interfaces positioned on the uppermost surfaces of wing scales ( Fig. 1e; also see Ghiradella, 1974;Ghiradella, Aneshansley, Eisner, Silberglied, & Hinton, 1972). Similar to many butterflies, for example Ancyluris meliboeus (Vukusic et al, 2001), the multilayers are angled relative to the plane of the wing scale.…”

Section: Study Species and Signal Traitsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Female mating preferences and male signal variation in iridescent Hypolimnas butterflies

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…It is the reason why the literature concerning the optical properties of this genus is abundant since the end of the 1990s with the early works of notably Vukusik [1] and of Berthier [2], following the qualitative pioneering works of Ghiradella [3] on similar structures in the 1970s. Nevertheless, articles devoted to the modeling of these optical properties are not so frequent (without completeness [4][5][6][7][8][9][10]).…”

Section: Morpho Rhetenormentioning

confidence: 99%

Finite element modeling of the radiative properties ofMorphobutterfly wing scales

Mejdoubi¹,

Andraud²,

Berthier³

et al. 2013

Phys. Rev. E

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

With the aim of furthering the explanation of iridescence in Morpho butterflies, we developed an optical model based on the finite-element (FE) method, taking more accurately into account the exact morphology of the wing, origin of iridescence. We modeled the photonic structure of a basal scale of the Morpho rhetenor wing as a three-dimensional object, infinite in one direction, with a shape copied from a TEM image, and made out of a slightly absorbing dielectric material. Periodic boundary conditions were used in the FE method to model the wing periodic structure and perfectly matched layers permitted the free-space scattering computation. Our results are twofold: first, we verified on a simpler structure, that our model yields the same result as the rigorous coupled wave analysis (RCWA), and second, we demonstrated that it is necessary to assume an absorption gradient in the true structure, to account for experimental reflectivity measured on a real wing.

show abstract

Ultraviolet Reflection of a Male Butterfly: Interference Color Caused by Thin-Layer Elaboration of Wing Scales

Cited by 191 publications

References 10 publications

Iridescence: a functional perspective

Iridescence: a functional perspective

Female mating preferences and male signal variation in iridescent Hypolimnas butterflies

Finite element modeling of the radiative properties ofMorphobutterfly wing scales

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About