Derivatives of the integument, continued

• Outgrowths
• immovable (no membranous articulation)
• small – microtrichia; secreted sculpturing
• large – spines & horns
• movable (in a “socket”)
• medium-sized – setae (macrotrichia)
• large – spurs
• Ingrowths
• mostly immovable – apophyses & apodemes;
phragmata

• Glands
• COLORS
• Pigment colors (from pigment molecules)
• Physical colors (iridescence)
• Sensory structures (to be considered later)

• Pigment Colors (vs. Physical Colors)

• Location:
• cuticle – melanin & sclerotin; fairly permanent
• epidermis – this & the rest are non-permanent
• fat body – metabolic byproducts & special synthesis
• gut (food) – ingestion of colorful stuff
• blood – respiratory pigments
• Metabolic By-Products or Special Synthesis:
• Melanin (cuticle) – brown or black; sclerotization & excretion
• Biliverdin (fat body) – green, greenish-blue; pigment synthesis
(purine derivatives) – yellow, white, red; RNA/DNA synthesis
• Ommochromes (tryptophan derivatives) – in eyes:  O2 red;
also dark brown-violet; protein synthesis
• Anthroquinones (cochineal & carmine red) – predator protection
• Hemoglobins (haemolymph) – red; respiratory pigment
• From Foods:
• Carotenoids – yellow to orange; from leaves (e.g. xanthophylls)
– ivory to yellow; from flowers (e.g. flavones)
• Anthocyanins – scarlet, purple, blue; from flowers

1
 Pigment colors I: Metabolic by-products/synthesis
Tanned exocuticle (melanin)
Biliverdin Ommochromes (Acrididae)
in a nasute soldier termite
(Chrysopidae)

Pterines (Nymphalidae)

Anthroquinones (cochineal bugs: carmine red)

Hemoglobin (bloodworm: Chironomidae)

carminic acid -- defense

• Pigment Colors (vs. Physical Colors)

• Location:
• cuticle – melanin & sclerotin; fairly permanent
• epidermis – this & the rest are non-permanent
• fat body – metabolic byproducts
• gut (food) – ingestion of colorful stuff
• blood – respiratory pigments
• Metabolic By-Products or Special Synthesis:
• Melanin (cuticle) – brown or black; sclerotization & excretion
• Biliverdin (fat body) – green, greenish-blue; pigment synthesis
(purine derivatives) – yellow, white, red; RNA/DNA synthesis
• Ommochromes (tryptophan derivatives) – in eyes: yellow O2 red;
also dark brown-violet; protein synthesis
• Anthroquinones (cochineal & carmine red) – predator protection
• Hemoglobins (haemolymph) – red; respiratory pigment
• From Foods:
• Carotenoids – yellow to orange; from leaves (e.g. xanthophylls) –
often condition-related in males (sexual selection)
– ivory to yellow; from flowers (e.g. flavones)
• Anthocyanins – scarlet, purple, blue; from flowers

2
 Pigment colors II: From food

Nymphalidae

Anthoxanthins:
flavones

Chrysomelidae

Carotenoids (Chrysomelidae)

Blueberry leafhopper
(Cicadellidae)

Anthocyanins
(also flavonoids)

Physical Colors IA: Interference from a diffraction grating

(reflection)

3
Physical colors IA: Interference from an ordered diffraction grating
…dominated by Coleoptera
(18 independent origins)

625 tracks/mm
= 1.6 microns

Physical colors IB: Diffraction from unordered striations

Pieris rapae
(Papilionoidea: Pieridae)

4
Physical colors II: Interference from thin-layer reflections
Blue light: incident Red light:
light
reinforcing
(in phase) interfering
reflections (out of phase)
reflections

lamella

reflecting surfaces of lamellae

Morpho
Chrysomelid
butterfly
beetle

Examples of interference colors from Lepidoptera

lamellae

upper
lamina
lower
lamina
Urania-type scale
(Geometroidea – a ‘moth’)

lamellae upper lamina

-- the “vane”

lower lamina
Morpho-type scale
(Papilionoidea: Nymphalidae)

5
 Another interference phenomonon: photonic crystals

Curculionidae
(weevil)

crystals of chitin, in a ‘diamond cubic’ crystal structure

Physical colors III: Scattering

Incoherent
Tyndall scattering (?) Multiwavelength scattering from air bubbles
O2 & N2 molecules

Lepidoptera:
Danaidae
Odonata

Zygoptera:
Coenagrionidae

(minute air
Coherent scattering bubbles in
the hair shafts)
Anisoptera:
Aeshnidae
(11-14 indep. origins)

Emmylou Harris

6
 Significance of colors (e.g., Lepidoptera)
Mimicry & aposematism: monarch vs. viceroy Concealment &
Camouflage
model
giant swallowtail larva
mimic
(or Müllerian?)

Startle & confusion: polyphemus moth

Indian leaf butterfly

…and of course courtship & mating (species & mate choice; sexual selection)

“postantennal somite”

“prostomium” 1 2 3
Evolution of the insect HEAD
(eyes & mouth) 4 cranium
from six original somites
1 2 3 4 5 6

gnathocephalon (mouthparts)

antennal somite “postantennal somite”

I. somites

prostomium?
1 2 3 4 periproct
1 2 5 6 7
3 4 5 6
simple eye

II. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

–thorax– abdomen
I II III
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
III.
mouth

7
 Head evolution, continued

IV. 1 2 34 5
I
6 7
II III

procephalon
plus somite 1 2 3 4

5 6 7
V. --- THORAX ---
I II III

procephalon
plus somites 1, 2, 3
4
VI. 5 6 7
I II III

postoccipital
suture

Types of head orientation in insects

Hypognathous Prognathous
(grasshopper) (carabid beetle)
Herbivores Carnivores

(stand on your food)

(meet your food head-on)

Opisthognathous
(cicada)
Sucking mouthparts:
blood or sap

(protect your
delicate mouthparts)

8
 Head orientation:
more examples
(& exceptions)

raptorial
front
legs

Mantis – hypognathous Water bug – opisthognathous

(even though it’s predaceous) (even though it’s predaceous)
(Dictyoptera: s.o. Mantodea) (Hemiptera: s.o. Heteroptera)