{"title":"Polarized iridescence of the tropical carpenter bee, Xylocopa latipes.","authors":"Doekele G Stavenga, Kim Kats, Hein L Leertouwer","doi":"10.1007/s00359-022-01592-9","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The tropical carpenter bee, Xylocopa latipes, has metallic-reflecting, iridescent wings. The wing reflectance spectra for TE- and TM-polarized light depend on the angle of light incidence in a way characteristic for dielectric multilayers. Anatomy indicates the presence of melanin multilayers in the wing's chitinous matrix. A simple optical model of melanin multilayers explains the angle dependence of the wing reflectance spectra. The wing reflections that occur upon oblique illumination exhibit colourful and strongly polarized light patterns, which may mediate intraspecific signaling and mutual recognition by conspecifics.</p>","PeriodicalId":54862,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Comparative Physiology A-Neuroethology Sensory Neural and Behavioral Physiology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10643292/pdf/","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Comparative Physiology A-Neuroethology Sensory Neural and Behavioral Physiology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-022-01592-9","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2022/11/16 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
The tropical carpenter bee, Xylocopa latipes, has metallic-reflecting, iridescent wings. The wing reflectance spectra for TE- and TM-polarized light depend on the angle of light incidence in a way characteristic for dielectric multilayers. Anatomy indicates the presence of melanin multilayers in the wing's chitinous matrix. A simple optical model of melanin multilayers explains the angle dependence of the wing reflectance spectra. The wing reflections that occur upon oblique illumination exhibit colourful and strongly polarized light patterns, which may mediate intraspecific signaling and mutual recognition by conspecifics.
期刊介绍：
The Journal of Comparative Physiology A welcomes original articles, short reviews, and short communications in the following fields:
- Neurobiology and neuroethology
- Sensory physiology and ecology
- Physiological and hormonal basis of behavior
- Communication, orientation, and locomotion
- Functional imaging and neuroanatomy
Contributions should add to our understanding of mechanisms and not be purely descriptive. The level of organization addressed may be organismic, cellular, or molecular.
Colour figures are free in print and online.
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