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Samenvatting
Morpho butterflies are widely known for their brilliant blue and flashy colours, which are produced by intricate wing scale structures. Not all species display a vibrant structural coloration; some are whitish or even brown. This suggests that there is considerable interspecific variation in wing scale anatomy, pigmentation and flashiness. As evidenced by numerous studies, the optical mechanism that creates the bright structural colours resides in the multilayered ridges of the wing scales, but the interspecific variation in flashiness has so far received little attention. Here, we investigate the wing components that influence the directional wing reflectivity. We therefore selected three species that greatly vary in colour and flashy appearance, Morpho sulkowskyi, M. helenor and M. anaxibia. Applying morphological analyses, (micro-)spectrophotometry and imaging scatterometry on wing pieces and individual wing scales, we demonstrate that wings with flat scales produce highly directional reflections, whereas wings stacked with curved scales scatter light into a wider angular space, resulting in a spatially more diffuse appearance. We thus find that the curvature of the wing scales crucially determines the directionality of Morpho's visual display. We discuss how the visual ecology of Morpho butterflies and environmental conditions can drive the evolution of flashy visual displays.
Originele taal-2 | English |
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Pagina's (van-tot) | 20240358 |
Aantal pagina's | 6 |
Tijdschrift | Biology Letters |
Volume | 20 |
Nummer van het tijdschrift | 11 |
DOI's | |
Status | Published - 13-nov.-2024 |
Vingerafdruk
Duik in de onderzoeksthema's van 'Morpho butterfly flashiness crucially depends on wing scale curvature'. Samen vormen ze een unieke vingerafdruk.Datasets
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Integrating Sphere Measurements from Morpho butterfly flashiness crucially depends on wing scale curvature
Sosa Espinosa, J. (Contributor), Stavenga, D. G. (Creator), van der Kooi, C. J. (Creator) & Giraldo, M. A. (Creator), figshare, 5-nov.-2024
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.27612615.v1
Dataset
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Microspectrophotometry Measurements from Morpho butterfly flashiness crucially depends on wing scale curvature
Sosa Espinosa, J. (Contributor), Stavenga, D. G. (Creator), van der Kooi, C. J. (Creator) & Giraldo, M. A. (Creator), figshare, 5-nov.-2024
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.27612612.v1
Dataset
Projecten
- 2 Actief
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Shiny signalling: The production, detection and neurobiological processing of brilliant colours
van der Kooi, C. (Hoofdonderzoeker), Kemp, D. (Hoofdonderzoeker), Veldhuis, T. (PhD student) & Le Levier, M. (PhD student)
01/11/2023 → 01/11/2026
Project: Research
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Scales and facets: Optical signaling and sensing in flies and butterflies
van der Kooi, C. (Hoofdonderzoeker), Stavenga, D. (Hoofdonderzoeker) & Leertouwer, H. (Researcher)
01/08/2023 → 01/08/2027
Project: Research