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https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2007.0328
Title: | Optics of the ultraviolet reflecting scales of a jumping spider | Authors: | Land, M.F. Horwood, J. Lim, M.L.M. Li, D. |
Keywords: | Cosmophasis umbratica Mating behaviour Multilayer Structural colour Ultraviolet reflection |
Issue Date: | 7-Jul-2007 | Citation: | Land, M.F., Horwood, J., Lim, M.L.M., Li, D. (2007-07-07). Optics of the ultraviolet reflecting scales of a jumping spider. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 274 (1618) : 1583-1589. ScholarBank@NUS Repository. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2007.0328 | Abstract: | The jumping spider Cosmophasis umbratica from Singapore is strongly sexually dimorphic. The males, but not the females, reflect ultraviolet as well as green-orange light. The scales responsible for this are composed of a chitin-air-chitin sandwich in which the chitin layers are three-quarters of a wavelength thick and the air gap a quarter wavelength (where λ = 600 nm, the peak wavelength of the principal reflection maximum). It is shown that this configuration produces a second reflectance peak at approximately 385 nm, accounting for the observed reflection in the ultraviolet. Other scales have a similar thickness of chitin but lack the air gap and thus produce a dull purple reflection. This novel mechanism provides the spiders with two colour signals, both of which are important in mating displays. © 2007 The Royal Society. | Source Title: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | URI: | http://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/101325 | ISSN: | 09628452 | DOI: | 10.1098/rspb.2007.0328 |
Appears in Collections: | Staff Publications |
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