OPEN ACCESS
The order Coleoptera is, by any standard, a prodigious showcase for the extraordinary creativity and flexibility of the evolutionary process. Concurrent with a desire to overcome the present limitations of optical coating technol- ogies, a number of novel and elegant reflectance mechanisms have been discovered in the realms of biological systems including 3D photonic crystals and quasi-ordered coherent scattering arrays. Beetles, in particular, pos- sess many desirable and, crucially, tunable properties from a biomimetic perspective. Here, we provide a detailed discussion of two coleopteran structures, namely 1D multilayers and helically arranged ‘Bouligand’ structures, and consider their putative entomological functions and potential applications in bioinspired technologies.
beetles, biomimetics, broadband, circular polarisation, iridescence, multilayer, optical activity, structural colour
[1] Fox, D.L., Animal Biochromes and Structural Colours, University of California Press: Berkeley, CA, 1976.
[2] Srinivasarao, M., Nano-optics in the biological world: beetles, butterfl ies, birds, and moths. Chem Rev, 99(7), pp. 1935–1961, 1999. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/cr970080y
[3] Vukusic, P. & Sambles, J.R., Photonic structures in biology. Nature, 424, pp. 852–855, 2003. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature01941
[4] Shawkey, M.D., Morehouse, N.I. & Vukusic, P., A protean palette: colour materials and mixing in birds and butterfl ies. J R Soc Int, 6, pp. S221–S231, 2009. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/ rsif.2008.0459.focus
[5] Mathger, L.M., Denton, E.J., Marshall, N.J. & Hanlon, R.T., Mechanisms and behavioural functions of structural coloration in cephalopods. JR Soc Int, 6, pp. S149–S163, 2009. doi: http:// dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2008.0366.focus
[6] Glover, B.J. & Whitney, H.M., Structural colour and iridescence in plants: the poorly studied relations of pigment colour. Annals of Botany, 105(4), pp. 505–11, 2010. doi: http://dx.doi. org/10.1093/aob/mcq007
[7] Seago, A.E., Brady, P., Vigneron, J.P. & Schultz, T.D., Gold bugs and beyond: a review of iridescence and structural colour mechanisms in beetles (Coleoptera). JR Soc Int, 6, pp. S165– S184, 2009. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2008.0354.focus
[8] Neville, A.C., Biology of the Arthropod Cuticle, Springer-Verlag: New York, 1975. doi: http:// dx.doi.org/10.1002/mmnd.4810230411
[9] Schultz, T.D. & Rankin, M.A., Developmental changes in the interference refl ectors and colorations of tiger beetles (Cicindela). J Exp Biol, 117, pp. 111–117, 1985.
[10] Yablonovitch, E., Inhibited spontaneous emission in solid-state physics and electronics. Phys Rev Lett, 58(20), pp. 2059–2062, 1987. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.58.2059
[11] John, S., Strong localisation of photons in certain disordered dielectric superlattices. Phys Rev Lett, 58(23), pp. 2486–2489, 1987. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.58.2486
[12] Joannopoulos, J.D., Johnson, S.G., Winn, J.N. & Meade, R.D., Photonic Crystals: Moulding the Flow of Light, 2nd edn., Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008.
[13] Born, M. & Wolf, E., Principles of Optics, Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1980. doi: http://dx.doi. org/10.1126/science.131.3399.495
[14] Land, M.F., The physics and biology of animal refl ectors. Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, 24, pp. 75–106, 1972. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0079-6107(72)90004-1
[15] Jordan, T.M., Partridge, J.C. & Roberts, N.W., Non-polarizing broadband multilayer refl ectors in fi sh. Nature Photonics, 6(11), pp. 759–763, 2013. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.260
[16] Neville, A.C. & Caveney, S., Scarabaeid beetle exocuticle as an optical analogue of cholesteric liquid crystals. Biol Rev, 44(4), pp. 531–562, 1969. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469185x.1969.tb00611.x
[17] Starkey, T. & Vukusic, P., Light manipulation principles in biological photonic systems. Nanophotonics, 2(4), pp. 289–307, 2013. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/nanoph-2013-0015
[18] Caveney, S., Cuticle refl ectivity and optical activity in scarab beetles: the role of uric acid. Proc R Soc Lond B, 178, pp. 205–225, 1971. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1971.0062
[19] Jewell, S.A., Vukusic, P. & Roberts, N.W., Circularly polarized colour refl ection from helicoidal structures in the beetle Plusiotis boucardi. New J Phys, 9, pp. 1–10, 2007. doi: http://dx.doi. org/10.1088/13672630/9/4/099
[20] Sharma, V., Crne, M., Park, J.O. & Srinivasarao, M., Structural origin of circularly polarized iridescence in jeweled beetles. Science, 325, pp. 449–451, 2009. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/ science.1172051
[21] Arwin, H., Magnusson, R. & Landin, J., Chirality-induced polarization effects in the cuticle of scarab beetles: 100 years after Michelson. Phil Mag, 92(12), pp. 1583–1599, 2011. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786435.2011.648228
[22] Bouligand, Y., Twisted fi brous arrangements in biological materials and cholesteric mesophases. Tissue & Cell, 4(2), pp. 189–217, 1972. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s00408166(72)80042-9
[23] Neville, A.C. & Luke, B.M., Form optical activity in crustacean cuticle. J Insect Physiol, 17, pp. 519–526, 1971. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0022-1910(71)90030-8
[24] Mathger, L.M., Rapid colour changes in multilayer refl ecting stripes in the paradise whiptail, Pentapodus paradiseus. J Exp Biol, 206, pp. 3607–3613, 2003. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/ jeb.00599
[25] Giraud-Guille, M.M., Belamie, E. & Mosser, G., Organic and mineral networks in carapaces, bones and biomimetic materials. C R Palevol, 3, pp. 503–513, 2004. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2004.07.004
[26] Moogan, T., Bacterial cell wall structre. Nature Biotech, 24(4), p. 421, 2006.
[27] Parker, A.R., 515 million years of structural colour. IOP: J Opt A: Pure Appl Opt, 2, pp. R15– R28, 2000. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1464-4258/2/6/201
[28] Hegedus, R., Szel, G. & Horvath, G., Imaging polarimetry of the circularly polarizing cuticle of scarab beetles (Coleoptera: Rutelidae, Cetoniidae). Vision Research, 46(17), pp. 2786–2797, 2006. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2006.02.007
[29] Pouya, C., Stavenga, D.G. & Vukusic, P., Discovery of ordered and quasi-ordered photonic crystal structures in the scales of the beetle Eupholus magnifi cus. Opt Exp, 19(12), pp. 11355–11364, 2011. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/oe.19.011355
[30] Vukusic, P., Hallam, B. & Noyes, J., Brilliant whiteness in ultrathin beetle scales. Science, 315, p. 348, 2007. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1134666