Sexual Dichromatism of the Damselfly Calopteryx japonica Caused by a Melanin-Chitin Multilayer in the Male Wing Veins

Mature male Calopteryx japonica damselflies have dark-blue wings, due to darkly coloured wing membranes and blue reflecting veins. The membranes contain a high melanin concentration and the veins have a multilayer of melanin and chitin. Female and immature C. japonica damselflies have brown wings. We have determined the refractive index of melanin by comparing the differently pigmented wing membranes and applying Jamin-Lebedeff interference microscopy. Together with the previously measured refractive index of chitin the blue, structural colour of the male wing veins could be quantitatively explained by an optical multilayer model. The obtained melanin refractive index data will be useful in optical studies on melanized tissues, especially where melanin is concentrated in layers, thus causing iridescence.

• Publication year

  2012

• Venue

  PLoS ONE

• Publication date

  2012-11-20

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0049743PMID 23185423PMCID 3502265
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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