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Coloration using higher order optical interference in the wing pattern of the Madagascan sunset moth

Colour patterns of animals' bodies are usually produced by the spatial distribution of pigments with different colours. However, some animals use the spatial variation of colour-producing microstructures. We have studied one distinctive example of such structurally produced colour patterns, the wing of the Madagascan sunset moth, to clarify the physical rules that underlie the colour variation. It is known that the iridescent wing scale of the sunset moth has the alternate air–cuticle multilayer structure that causes optical interference. The microscopic and optical investigations of various parts of the wing have confirmed that the thickness of the cuticle layers within the scale largely varies to produce the colour pattern. However, it varies in very different ways between the dorsal and ventral sides of the hind wing; the thickness gradually varies on the dorsal side from scale to scale, while the abrupt changes are found on the ventral side to form distinctive borders between differently coloured areas. It is also revealed that an unusual coloration mechanism is involved in the green part of the ventral hind wing: the colour is caused by higher order optical interference of the highly non-ideal multilayer structure. The physical mechanism of the colour pattern formation is briefly discussed with the several mathematical models proposed so far.