Spectral sideband produced by a hemispherical concave multilayer on the African shield-bug Calidea panaethiopica (Scutelleridae)

The African shield-backed bug Calidea panaethiopica is a very colorful insect which produces a range of iridescent yellow, green, and blue reflections. The cuticle of the dorsal side of the insect, on the shield, the prothorax and part of the head, is pricked of uniformly distributed hemispherical hollow cavities a few tens micrometers deep. Under normal illumination and viewing the insect's muffin-tin shaped surface gives rise to two distinct colors: a yellow spot arising from the bottom of the well and a blue annular cloud that appears to float around the yellow spot. This effect is explained by multiple reflections on a hemispherical Bragg mirror with a mesoscopic curvature. A multiscale computing methodology was found to be needed to evaluate the reflection spectrum for such a curved multilayer. This multiscale approach is very general and should be useful for dealing with visual effects in many natural and artificial systems.