Photonic Structures in the Animal Kingdom: Valuable Inspirations for Biomimetic Applications - Biomimetic Architectures by Plasma Processing - page 23

often fulfil a particular biological function in display; for example,
by maximising conspicuousness to conspecifics, by selectively
enhancing light reflectance of a certain polarisation.

Figure 1.12 Flowchart showing the possible functions of animal coloura-

tion. Representative animals for each category discussed in the
text are shown next to the connected functions. Forked arrows
indicate a possible dual function.

When discussing possible biological functions of animal
colouration, we always have to keep in mind that the visual system
of animals differs from our own in a number of ways. For example,
the visual spectral range is different: while the spectral range is
∼

400-750 nm for humans, insects can also detect UV light, that is,
their spectral range covers

∼

300-700 nm. This implies that, the

Cabbage white butterfly, , yet white for us, appears

“butterfly yellow” to conspecifics due to negligible reflection in the
UV wavelength range. Furthermore, the visual system of insects
allows detection of polarisation signals and thus opens a “secret”
communication channel that cannot be detected by predators (and
by humans).
In this section, we will shortly present some of the most
important biological aspects of animal colouration. More complete
overviews of the possible biological functions of animal colouration
can be found elsewhere [11,63].

Pieris rapae