Something like a gem-studded overcoat, the diamond weevil’s jet-black wings are covered by pits filled with sparkling, rainbow-colored scales.
Researchers have poked and prodded these “diamonds” since the weevil’s discovery in the early 19th century but, until recently, no one knew know how the scales reflected so much light.
A new high-tech investigation reveals the diamonds are, by chance, just that: crystals of chitin in a diamond-type arrangement that’s optimized to throw off brilliant greens, yellows and oranges.
“Materials scientists could look to these scales to inspire new materials, but we don’t yet know how they are made,” said biophysicist Bodo Wilts of the University of Groningen, co-author of a Dec. 21st study about the scales in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
“We’ve got some catching up to do,” Wilts said. “The nature-produced tiny structures are far beyond any human designs.”
The scales are a type of photonic crystal, much like an opal. Each kind of photonic crystal, at very specific orientation, reflects a specific wavelength of light with. Non-photonic crystals, meanwhile, reflect multiple wavelengths at similar orientations and aren’t as brilliant or iridescent.
Wilts’ team used a battery of tools to investigate the photonic studs of the one-inch-long bug, the Brazilian species of which is known as Entimus imperialis (pictured above). Follow along in this gallery.