Associate Researcher Museo de Zoología, Universidad de Costa Rica & Estación Biológica Monteverde, Apdo 22-5655, Monteverde, Costa Rica.
Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-3 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
Cell Rep. 2023 Aug 29;42(8):112917. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112917. Epub 2023 Aug 1.
A previously undescribed mechanism underlying butterfly wing coloration patterns was discovered in two distantly related butterfly species, Siproeta stelenes and Philaethria diatonica. These butterflies have bright green wings, but the color pattern is not derived from solid pigments or nanostructures of the scales or from the color of the cuticular membrane but rather from a liquid retained in the wing membrane. Wing structure differs between the green and non-green areas. In the non-green region, the upper and lower cuticular membranes are attached to each other, whereas in the green region, we observed a space of 5-10 μm where green liquid is held and living cells are present. A pigment analysis and tracer experiment revealed that the color of the liquid is derived from hemolymph components, bilin and carotenoid pigments. This discovery broadens our understanding of the diverse ways in which butterfly wings obtain their coloration and patterns.
在两种亲缘关系较远的蝴蝶（Siproeta stelenes 和 Philaethria diatonica）中发现了一个以前未被描述的蝴蝶翅膀颜色模式的形成机制。这些蝴蝶的翅膀呈现鲜艳的绿色，但这种颜色模式不是源自鳞片的固体颜料或纳米结构，也不是源自表皮膜的颜色，而是源自保留在翅膀膜中的液体。翅膀结构在绿色和非绿色区域之间存在差异。在非绿色区域，上表皮膜和下表皮膜彼此附着，而在绿色区域，我们观察到一个 5-10μm 的空间，其中含有绿色液体和活细胞。色素分析和示踪实验表明，液体的颜色源自血淋巴成分、胆绿素和类胡萝卜素色素。这一发现拓宽了我们对蝴蝶翅膀获得颜色和图案的多种方式的理解。
