ArticleJournal of the Royal Society, Interface2021
Springtail coloration at a finer scale: mechanisms behind vibrant collembolan metallic colours.
Article in Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Color and Near-Infrared Reflectance Covary in Distinct Ways Across Taxa.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Cell membrane buckling governs early-stage ridge formation in butterfly wing scales.Cell reports. Physical science · 2024Article
- Rapid and reversible humidity-dependent colour change by water film formation in a scaled springtail.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The mechanisms and evolution of metallic structural colours are of both fundamental and applied interest, yet most work in arthropods has focused on derived butterflies and beetles with distinct hues. In particular, basal hexapods-groups with many scaled, metallic representatives-are currently poorly studied and controversial, with some recent studies suggesting either that thin-film (lamina thickness) or diffraction grating (longitudinal ridges, cross-ribs) elements produce these colours in early Lepidoptera and one springtail (Collembola) species. Especially the collembolan basal scale design, consisting of a single lamina and longitudinal ridges with smooth valleys lacking cross-ribs, makes them an interesting group to explore the mechanisms of metallic coloration. Using microspectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, electron microscopy and finite-difference time-domain optical modelling, we investigated scale colour in seven springtail species that show clear metallic coloration. Reflectance spectra are largely uniform and exhibit a broadband metallic/golden coloration with peaks in the violet/blue region. Our simulations confirm the role of the longitudinal ridges, working in conjunction with thin-film effects to produce a broadband metallic coloration. Broadband coloration occurs through spatial colour mixing, which probably results from nanoscale variation in scale thickness and ridge height and distance. These results provide crucial insights into the colour production mechanisms in a basal scale design and highlight the need for further investigation of scaled, basal arthropods.
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