Anderson RS

Derek E. G. Briggs

Emma R. Locatelli

Ghiradella H

Hahn T

Heeso Noh

Hui Cao

Khruleva OA

Kinoshita S

Maria E. McNamara

Oberprieler RG

Parker AR

Patrick J. Orr

Schultz TD

Vinod Saranathan


            Nature's most spectacular colours originate in integumentary tissue architectures that scatter light via nanoscale modulations of the refractive index. The most intricate biophotonic nanostructures are three-dimensional crystals with opal, single diamond or single gyroid lattices. Despite intense interest in their optical and structural properties, the evolution of such nanostructures is poorly understood, due in part to a lack of data from the fossil record. Here, we report preservation of single diamond (
            Fd
            -3
            m
            ) three-dimensional photonic crystals in scales of a 735 000 year old specimen of the brown Nearctic weevil
            Hypera diversipunctata
            from Gold Run, Canada, and in extant conspecifics. The preserved red to green structural colours exhibit near-field brilliancy yet are inconspicuous from afar; they most likely had cryptic functions in substrate matching. The discovery of pristine fossil examples indicates that the fossil record is likely to yield further data on the evolution of three-dimensional photonic nanostructures and their biological functions.
          </jats:p

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Journal of The Royal Society Interface

Cryptic iridescence in a fossil weevil generated by single diamond photonic crystals

Cryptic iridescence in a fossil weevil generated by single diamond photonic crystals

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