Issue 11, 2024

Anoplophora graafi longhorn beetle coloration is due to disordered diamond-like packed spheres

Abstract

While artificial photonic materials are typically highly ordered, photonic structures in many species of birds and insects do not possess a long-range order. Studying their order–disorder interplay sheds light on the origin of the photonic band gap. Here, we investigated the scale morphology of the Anoplophora graafi longhorn beetle. Combining small-angle X-ray scattering and slice-and-view FIB-SEM tomography with molecular dynamics and optical simulations, we characterised the chitin sphere assemblies within blue and green A. graafi scales. The low volume fraction of spheres and the number of their nearest neighbours are incompatible with any known close-packed sphere morphology. A short-range diamond lattice with long-range disorder best describes the sphere assembly, which will inspire the development of new colloid-based photonic materials.

Graphical abstract: Anoplophora graafi longhorn beetle coloration is due to disordered diamond-like packed spheres

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 Jan 2024
Accepted
16 Feb 2024
First published
19 Feb 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Soft Matter, 2024,20, 2509-2517

Anoplophora graafi longhorn beetle coloration is due to disordered diamond-like packed spheres

K. Djeghdi, C. Schumacher, V. Bauernfeind, I. Gunkel, B. D. Wilts and U. Steiner, Soft Matter, 2024, 20, 2509 DOI: 10.1039/D4SM00068D

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