Classical lepidopteran wing scale colouration in the giant butterfly-moth Paysandisia archon
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,...
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PeerJ Inc.
2018-04-01
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| author | Doekele G. Stavenga Hein L. Leertouwer Andrej Meglič Kazimir Drašlar Martin F. Wehling Primož Pirih Gregor Belušič |
| author_facet | Doekele G. Stavenga Hein L. Leertouwer Andrej Meglič Kazimir Drašlar Martin F. Wehling Primož Pirih Gregor Belušič |
| author_sort | Doekele G. Stavenga |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T06:32:33Z |
| publishDate | 2018-04-01 |
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| record_format | Article |
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| spelling | doaj.art-f0fde26112fb439d9e5b5a21d7e29b9c2023-12-03T11:04:00ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592018-04-016e459010.7717/peerj.4590Classical lepidopteran wing scale colouration in the giant butterfly-moth Paysandisia archonDoekele G. Stavenga0Hein L. Leertouwer1Andrej Meglič2Kazimir Drašlar3Martin F. Wehling4Primož Pirih5Gregor Belušič6Department of Computational Physics, University of Groningen, Groningen, NetherlandsDepartment of Computational Physics, University of Groningen, Groningen, NetherlandsDepartment of Biology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, SloveniaDepartment of Biology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, SloveniaAir Force Research Laboratory, Eglin Air Force Base, Eglin, USADepartment of Computational Physics, University of Groningen, Groningen, NetherlandsDepartment of Biology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, SloveniaThe 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.https://peerj.com/articles/4590.pdfPigmentsSpectrophotometryOmmochromeThin filmsMelanin |
| spellingShingle | Doekele G. Stavenga Hein L. Leertouwer Andrej Meglič Kazimir Drašlar Martin F. Wehling Primož Pirih Gregor Belušič Classical lepidopteran wing scale colouration in the giant butterfly-moth Paysandisia archon PeerJ Pigments Spectrophotometry Ommochrome Thin films Melanin |
| title | Classical lepidopteran wing scale colouration in the giant butterfly-moth Paysandisia archon |
| title_full | Classical lepidopteran wing scale colouration in the giant butterfly-moth Paysandisia archon |
| title_fullStr | Classical lepidopteran wing scale colouration in the giant butterfly-moth Paysandisia archon |
| title_full_unstemmed | Classical lepidopteran wing scale colouration in the giant butterfly-moth Paysandisia archon |
| title_short | Classical lepidopteran wing scale colouration in the giant butterfly-moth Paysandisia archon |
| title_sort | classical lepidopteran wing scale colouration in the giant butterfly moth paysandisia archon |
| topic | Pigments Spectrophotometry Ommochrome Thin films Melanin |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/4590.pdf |
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