Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31976171›Full record

ArticlePeerJ2020

Structure and pigment make the eyed elater's eyespots black.

Victoria L Wong, Paul E Marek

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PeerJ, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
0.4field-weighted citation impact, top 40% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Eyespots inEcology and evolution · 2026
    Article
  2. Ultrablack color in velvet ant cuticle.Beilstein journal of nanotechnology · 2024
    Article
  3. Wood-based superblack.Nature communications · 2023
    Article
  4. Does Structural Color Exist in True Fungi?Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Victoria L Wong *Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA, United States of America.
Paul E Marek *Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA, United States of America.
Virginia Tech · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Surface structures that trap light leading to near complete structural absorption creates an appearance of "super black." Well known in the natural world from bird feathers and butterfly scales, super black has evolved independently from various anatomical structures. Due to an exceptional ability to reduce specular reflection, these biological materials have garnered interest from optical industries. Here we describe the false eyes of the eyed elater click beetle, which, while not classified as super black, still attains near complete absorption of light partly due to an array of vertically-aligned microtubules. These cone-shaped microtubules are modified hairs (setae) that are localized to eyespots on the dorsum of the beetle, and absorb 96.1% of incident light (at a 24.8° collection angle) in the spectrum between 300-700 nm. Filled with melanin, the setae combine structure and pigment to generate multiple reflections and refractions causing light to travel a greater distance. This light-capturing architecture leaves little light available to receivers and the false eyes appear as deep black making them appear more conspicuous to predators.

Indexed as

AposematicBeetleColorDeimaticEyespotMelaninScatteringSpectrumStartleSuper black

Identifiers

PMID31976171
PMCPMC6964691
OpenAlexW3000631639

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC0
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.