Covert linear polarization signatures from brilliant white two-dimensional disordered wing structures of the phoenix damselfly.

ABSTRACT: The damselfly Pseudolestes mirabilis reflects brilliant white on the ventral side of its hindwings and a copper-gold colour on the dorsal side. Unlike many previous investigations of odonate wings, in which colour appearances arise either from multilayer interference or from wing-membrane pigmentation, the whiteness on the wings of P. mirabilis results from light scattered by a specialized arrangement of flattened waxy fibres and the copper-gold colour is produced by pigment-based filtering of this light scatter. The waxy fibres responsible for this optical signature effectively form a structure that is disordered in two dimensions and this also gives rise to distinct optical linear polarization. It is a structure that provides a mechanism enabling P. mirabilis to display its bright wing c

SUBMITTER: Nixon MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5454293 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature