The Cyphochilus beetle, which is native to South-East Asia, is whiter than paper, thanks to ultra-thin scales which cover its body. A new investigation of the optical properties of these scales has shown that they are able to scatter light more efficiently than any other biological tissue known, which is how they are able to achieve such a bright whiteness.
To appear as white, however, a tissue needs to reflect all wavelengths of light with the same efficiency. The ultra-white Cyphochilus and L. Stigma beetles produce this colouration by exploiting the geometry of a dense complex network of chitin – a molecule similar in structure to cellulose, which is found throughout nature, including in the shells of molluscs, the exoskeletons of insects and the cell walls of fungi. The chitin filaments are just a few billionths of a metre thick, and on their own are not particularly good at reflecting light
𝓢𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓲𝓬 𝓒𝓲𝓽𝔂 𝓞𝓭𝓭𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓮𝓼 - 𝓦𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝓪𝓬𝓪𝓫𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝓮𝓮𝓽𝓼 𝓶𝓪𝓰𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓵 🐇🔮✨
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