The wings of butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera) are typically covered with thousands of flat, overlapping scales that endow the wings with colorful patterns. The relationships between these effective pitches and structural ones are clearly established. The dependence with depth through the cuticle is obtained for the effective pitch that characterizes both chiral structures. resplendens' cuticle responsible of reflecting circularly polarized light, both left-and right-handed. Scanning electron microscopy reveals the morphology of the C. Optical microscopy shows that the surface of the elytron consists of packed scales whose geometrical cross section is about 50 m 2. This fact suggests variability in the depth dependence of the pitch and of the average uric acid concentration, and on the thickness of the retarder layer located between the two helicoidal structures characterizing the cuticle of these beetles. resplendens scarabs, in the spectral range 300 to 1000 nm, show high variability depending on the magnitude of the illuminated area, the position of the illuminated section, the elytron, a single specimen, and on the different specimens considered. Measured reflectance spectra by cuticles of C. The dependence with depth through the cuticle is obtained for the effective pitch that characterizes both chiral resplendens’ cuticle responsible of reflecting circularly polarized light, both left- and right�handed. Optical microscopy shows that the surface of the elytron consists of packed scales whose geometrical cross section is about 50 μm2. Two helicoidal structures characterizing the cuticle of these beetles. This fact suggests variability in the depth dependence of the pitch and of the average uric acid concentration, and on the thickness of the retarder layer located between the resplendens scarabs, in the spectral range 300 to 1000 nm, show high variability depending on the magnitude of the illuminated area, the position of the illuminated section on the elytron of a single specimen, and on the different specimens considered. These fluorescent behaviours were optically characterised by one- and multi-photon microscopy and spectrometry, allowing us to infer the symmetry of the material as well as the biological role of the fluorophores in the visual perception of insects and to explain the high absorption by the material in the range 300-400~nm. In this article, we characterised the fluorescence emission from the transparent wings of the grey cicada extit Lieftinck, 1965. This emission was attributed to the presence of autofluorescent proteins such as resilin that gives rise to low stiffness and high strain in the biological tissues, allowing passive wing deformations. Fluorescence has also been described in the vein joints and the membrane of the transparent wings of damselflies and dragonflies. Photonic structures present in these scales may mediate the associated light emission. The phenomenon has however been investigated in several butterfly and moth species, in which the coloured wing scales are known to embed fluorophores such as papiliochrome II.

One example is the transparent wings of insects from the order Hemiptera: fluorescence emission has so far not been reported in any of the 3,000 described species of the superfamily Cicadoidea. In spite of the crucial role it is believed to play in nature, fluorescence in natural organisms remains under-investigated from optical, chemical and biological perspectives.

Transparent half wing