Directionally Controlled Fluorescence Emission in Butterflies

Vukusic, Peter; Hooper, Ian R.

doi:10.1126/science.1116612

Cited by 151 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Interestingly, in addition to coherently scattering a long wavelength visible color at the ~740·nm, the tubular nanostructure of P. zalxmoxis should also coherently scatter wavelengths that are one half this size, or approximately R. O. Prum, T. Quinn and R. H. Torres 370·nm. This wavelength is very close to the excitation maximum of the kyurenine pigment extracted from P. zalmoxis (Huxley, 1976) Recently, Vukusic and Hooper (2005) came to a similar conclusion for a closely related species, Papilio nireus, which has apparently identical anatomy and nanostructure. Vukusic and Hooper concluded also that this nanostructure is designed to coherently scatter light wavelengths in the horizontal plane to increase the flourescence of the blue pigment.…”

Section: Fig·7 Radial Averages Of Two-dimensional Fourier Power Spementioning

confidence: 73%

“…Our prediction is also congruent with the yellow luster observed at shallow angles in both P. zalmoxis and P. nireus, which is clearly a structural color (see above). So far, the analysis of Vukusic and Hooper (2005) provides no explanation of the origin of this yellow structural color. Further research may be necessary to establish the source of this disparity.…”

Section: Fig·7 Radial Averages Of Two-dimensional Fourier Power Spementioning

confidence: 99%

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Anatomically diverse butterfly scales all produce structural colours by coherent scattering

Prum

Quinn

Torres

2006

Journal of Experimental Biology

204

194

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SUMMARY The structural colours of butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) have been attributed to a diversity of physical mechanisms, including multilayer interference, diffraction, Bragg scattering, Tyndall scattering and Rayleigh scattering. We used fibre optic spectrophotometry, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and 2D Fourier analysis to investigate the physical mechanisms of structural colour production in twelve lepidopteran species from four families, representing all of the previously proposed anatomical and optical classes of butterfly nanostructure. The 2D Fourier analyses of TEMs of colour producing butterfly scales document that all species are appropriately nanostructured to produce visible colours by coherent scattering, i.e. differential interference and reinforcement of scattered, visible wavelengths. Previously hypothesized to produce a blue colour by incoherent, Tyndall scattering, the scales of Papilio zalmoxis are not appropriately nanostructured for incoherent scattering. Rather, available data indicate that the blue of P. zalmoxis is a fluorescent pigmentary colour. Despite their nanoscale anatomical diversity, all structurally coloured butterfly scales share a single fundamental physical color production mechanism -coherent scattering. Recognition of this commonality provides a new perspective on how the nanostructure and optical properties of structurally coloured butterfly scales evolved and diversified among and within lepidopteran clades.

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Section: Fig·7 Radial Averages Of Two-dimensional Fourier Power Spementioning

confidence: 73%

Section: Fig·7 Radial Averages Of Two-dimensional Fourier Power Spementioning

confidence: 99%

Anatomically diverse butterfly scales all produce structural colours by coherent scattering

Prum

Quinn

Torres

2006

Journal of Experimental Biology

204

194

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“…The upper side of both the forewings and the hindwings of these species is marked by brilliant blue-green bands surrounded by black margins. The blue-green colouration is localized in cover scales (Ghiradella, 1998) that are nanostructured in a quite complex way (Vukusic and Hooper, 2005) (T.M.T., B.D.W., D.G.S. and P.V., unpublished data).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Papiliochrome II pigment reduces the angle dependency of structural wing colouration innireusgroup papilionids

Wilts

Trzeciak

Vukusic

et al. 2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYThe wings of four papilionid butterfly species of the nireus group, Papilio bromius, P.epiphorbas, P.nireus and P.oribazus, are marked by blue-green coloured bands surrounded by black margins. The cover scales in the coloured bands contain a violetabsorbing, blue-fluorescing pigment. The fluorescence and absorbance spectra of the nireus group wings are very similar to those of the wings of the Japanese yellow swallowtail, Papilio xuthus, and thus the pigment is presumably papiliochromeII. The scale structures of P. xuthus are arranged irregularly, and both the fluorescence and light reflection are diffuse. In the nireus papilionids, the spatial fluorescence distribution of the scales is also diffuse, but the reflection is specular. The scales have a multilayered structure, consisting of two main laminae. We show that the papiliochromeII pigment in the upper lamina of the scales functions as a violet-blocking long-pass filter in front of the lower lamina, thus limiting the reflectance spectrum to the blue-green wavelength range. Optical modelling showed that the papiliochromeII filter effectively removes the angle dependency of the reflectance spectra -that is, it reduces the wing iridescence. The contribution of the fluorescence signal to the visual appearance is minor.

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“…The common fluorophore-based emissions observed in biological systems usually comprise near-UV absorption with many examples of emission in the blue and green colour wavelengths. Use of fluorescence emission for signalling has been observed in many animals including parrots, spiders and stomatopods [3][4][5], whilst the directional control of fluorescence emission by photonic crystals has been studied in Swallowtail butterflies [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light manipulation principles in biological photonic systems

Starkey

Vukusic

2013

Nanophotonics

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Abstract:The science of light and colour manipulation continues to generate interest across a range of disciplines, from mainstream biology, across multiple physics-based fields, to optical engineering. Furthermore, the study of light production and manipulation is of significant value to a variety of industrial processes and commercial products. Among the several key methods by which colour is produced in the biological world, this review sets out to describe, in some detail, the specifics of the method involving photonics in animal and plant systems; namely, the mechanism commonly referred to as structural colour generation. Not only has this theme been a very rapidly growing area of physics-based interest, but also it is increasingly clear that the biological world is filled with highly evolved structural designs by which light and colour strongly influence behaviours and ecological functions.

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Directionally Controlled Fluorescence Emission in Butterflies

Cited by 151 publications

References 5 publications

Anatomically diverse butterfly scales all produce structural colours by coherent scattering

Anatomically diverse butterfly scales all produce structural colours by coherent scattering

Papiliochrome II pigment reduces the angle dependency of structural wing colouration innireusgroup papilionids

Light manipulation principles in biological photonic systems

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