Many types of butterflies use light-interacting structures on their wing scales to produce color. The cuticle on the scales of these butterflies’ wings is composed of nano- and microscale, transparent, chitin-and-air layered structures. Rather than absorb and reflect certain light wavelengths as pigments and dyes do, these multi scale structures cause light that hits the surface of the wing to diffract and interfere. Cross ribs that protrude from the sides of ridges on the wing scale diffract incoming light waves, causing the waves to spread as they travel through spaces between the structures. The diffracted light waves then interfere with each other so that certain color wavelengths cancel out (destructive interference) while others are intensified and reflected (constructive interference). The varying heights of the wing scale ridges appear to affect the interference such that the reflected colors are uniform when viewed from a wide range of angles. The specific color that’s reflected depends on the shape of the structures and the distance between them. This way of manipulating light results in brilliant iridescent colors, which butterflies rely upon for camouflage, thermoregulation, and signaling.



Morpho butterfly wings have tiny scales covered with microscopic ridges, cross ribs, and other structures. These play with light waves to create brilliant blues and speckles. The structure, instead of a chemical, creates the color. Artist: Emily Harrington. Copyright: All rights reserved. See gallery for details.

Check out this video from Veritasium for a deeper overview of how butterflies’ brilliant color results from nano- and microstructures:

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And here’s another fantastic summary from our friends at Deep Look: