Many insects own a tessellated carapace with bumps, pits or indentations. Little is known on the physical properties of these geometric variations, and biological functions are unknown or still debated. Beetles from the genus Chrysina show vivid reflections from bright green to metallic silver-gold as a consequence of the cholesteric liquid crystal organization of chitin molecules. Particularly, the carapace of Chrysina gloriosa exhibits green and silver stripes.
- (a) Le scarabée Chrysina gloriosa. (b) Interface entre les bandes vertes et argentées de la carapace (microscopie optique, mode réflexion, champ clair, lumière non polarisée). (c) Vue agrandie de la texture polygonale dans une bande verte.
- © CEMES / CNRS
By combining confocal microscopy and spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscopy and (FDTD) numerical simulations, the relationship between the reflectance and the structural parameters for both stripes at the micro- and nanoscales is established. Over the visible and near IR spectra, polygonal cells in tessellated green stripes behave as multiwavelength selective micro-mirrors and the silver stripes as specular broadband mirrors. With its green stripes, Chrysina gloriosa simultaneously realizes the selective reflection of multiple wavelength ranges at normal incidence and the generation of diffusive reflections at a wide angular range. These seemingly conflicting requirements are fulfilled by combining, on a curved surface, appropriate regions of regularity and irregularity at different length scales. Conspecifics or intra-species communication, thermoregulation or camouflage against predators are discussed as advanced functions. As a prerequisite to bio-inspired artificial replicas, the physical characteristics of the polygonal texture in Chrysina gloriosa carapace are compared to their equivalents in synthetic cholesteric oligomers and their fundamental differences are ascertained, contrary to expectation and assumption in the literature. The present results may provide inspiration for fabricating spatial wavelength-specific light modulators and optical packet switching in routing technologies.
- Images de microscopie électronique à balayage de sections transversales de la carapace dans les bandes (a) vertes et (b) argentées. Dans une bande verte, la texture dite en empreintes digitales présente en-dessous de chaque polygone des lignes concaves imbriquées. Par contraste, ces lignes sont régulièrement parallèles dans une bande argentée. La distance entre deux lignes de même contraste est reliée au pas hélicoïdal de la structure torsadée, et l’axe hélicoïdal est partout perpendiculaire aux lignes.
- © CEMES-CNRS
- A l’aide d’un spectrophotomètre couplé à un microscope confocal, cartographie de l’intensité réfléchie au plan focal des polygones pour trois gammes de longueur d’onde reliées à trois motifs typiques : (a) beignet, (b) spot et (c) fond continu.
- © CEMES-CNRS
Reference
Multiwavelength micromirrors in the cuticle of scarab beetle Chrysina Gloriosa, G. Agez, C. Bayon and M. Mitov, Acta Biomaterialia, 48, pp. 357–367 (2017).
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1742706116306298
Contact
Michel Mitov : mitov chez cemes.fr