Logo image
The natural transparency and piezoelectric response of the Greta oto butterfly wing
Journal article   Peer reviewed

The natural transparency and piezoelectric response of the Greta oto butterfly wing

Valerie R. Binetti, Jessica D. Schiffman, Oren D. Leaffer, Jonathan E. Spanier and Caroline L. Schauer
Integrative biology (Cambridge), v 1(4), pp 324-329
2009
PMID: 20023733

Abstract

Life Sciences & Biomedicine Science & Technology Cell Biology
The Greta oto, or the "glasswing butterfly", is a member of the Ithomini tribe. Although rare among lepidopteran, the G. oto's wings are naturally transparent. To understand the material properties of natural transparency, the various structures on the surface of the wings, both the transparent and brown "veins" and wing parameter regions were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), reflectance spectrometry, transmission spectrometry and scanning probe microscopy (SPM) in order to investigate their local structure, periodic character, and electromechanical response. Nanosized protuberances in a highly ordered array were found on the surface of the transparent part similar to that of the "corneal nipple array" found in other insects as an antireflective device.

Details

InCites Highlights

Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Web of Science research areas
Cell Biology
Logo image