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The metallic coloration of the
female of the appropriately named Splendid Cuckoo wasp, Chrysis
splendens (Chrysididae) is a
result of light refraction, the wavelengths of which are determined
by the structure of the extremely hard cuticle, a defense against
host stings. She sneaks into other
solitary bee and wasp nests to lay her own egg. On hatching the
Cukoo wasp larva devours both the host larva and the host’s food
provisions. The cuticle is
constructed as a stack of thin chitin layers separated by very thin
irregular air gaps or by a helicoidal arrangement of chitin fibrils
creating a variety of refractive indices.
Photograph © Simon van
Noort |
