INSECT COLORATION

 The colors of adult and immature insects are grouped into three different
classes as follows
1. Pigmentory or chemical colors
2. Structural or physical colors
3. Combination of chemico-physical colors.

1. Pigmentory or chemical colors

 These are due to presence of various chemical substances that absorbs some
wavelength of light and reflects.
 They may be present in cuticle, epidermis or sub-epidermal tissues usually
fat bodies. The substances concerned are as follows,
1. Melanins-
 Amorphous, highly stable, dark brown or black circular pigments.
 Generally non-granular and insoluble in usual solvent though rapidly
decolorized by the oxidizing agents.
 They are probably due to polymerization of indole compounds derived from
amino acid tryosin.
 Thus Aedes larvae reared on diet deficient in tryosin result into unpigmented
pupae.
2. Carotenoids-
 Fat soluble and readily synthesized by plants.
 When ingested by insects, accumulate in blood and tissues.
 Sometimes due to oxidation, carotenoids forms chromoprotein i.e. Beta
carotene which has been derived from tissues of colorado potato beetle.
 In Cocciniella, the red colour is due to presence of plant carotenes, lycopene,
alpha and beta carotene.
3. Pteridines-
 Derived from heterocyclic pyrimidine-pyrazine ring structure.Found more
often in insects than any other organism.
 The conspicuous colors of heteroptera i.e. Dysdercus, Pyrrhocoris are due
to presence of red and yellow pterins, erythropterins and xanthopterins along
with white leucopterins.
 Xanthopterin and leucopterin are found in body of Vespidae, wing scales of
many Pierid butterflies also contain such pigments.
 Some pterins occurs in eye pigments of wild type drosophila Melanogaster
so called as Drosopterins which contribute to red color of eye.
4. Ommochromes-
 Best known as eye pigments and comprise two groups of substances.The
sulphur free ommatins of low molecular weight and another one of high
molecular weight.
 The later are main pigments occuring in eyes of insects from many orders.
 Xanthommatin is pigment in eyes of drosophila.
 Integumentary ommochromes occur in the wings of nymphalid butterflies
and in Schistocerca and are involved in colour change in some stick insects.
5. Anthraquinones-
 These are mainly confined to Coccidae.
 The coloring principle of cochineal found in fat bodies and eggs of the
female Dactylopius coccus and accounting for half of its body weight.
 Kermesic acid is the pigment in females of Kermococcus ilicis and laccaic
acid is water soluble red pigment of Laccifera lacca.
6. Aphins-
 These are the polycyclic quinones which decompose immediately after the
death of insect containing them.
 They are found in the hemoplymph of aphids, sometimes in high
concentration, and impart a purple or black color to the whole insect.
Structual or Physical colors
 Structural colors are changed by physical changes in the cuticle.
 Shrinkage, swelling, distortion or penetration with liquids may form
structural coloration.They are classified as,
1. Structural white-
 Caused by scattering, reflection and refraction of light by microscopic
particles large in composition with the wavelength of light and which in
themselves are usually transparent.
2. Tyndall Blue-
 Though uncommon, occur in some odonata and are due to scattering of
shorter wavelengths by particles with dimensions of about the same size as
the wavelength of light.
3. Interference color-
 Produced by optical interference between reflections from a series of
superimposed leucinae or ribs.
 This is one of the common type of physical coloration and inidescent
appearance is well seen in whip scales of morpho butterflies and in diamond
beetles.
4. Diffraction color-
 Resulting due to presence of closely spaced stride 0.5 to 3 micron apart,
occurs in the Multillidae and various beetles such as Serica, Canabis and
Pyrinidae.
 This variation in the color and intensity of light reflected from these
structures helps to confuse predators as to the size and distance of the insect.
 Combination of chemico-physical colors
 Produced by structural modifications in conjugation with a layer of pigment
and are more commonly have pure structural colors.
 In butterfly like Tetraceleus phlegyas, a red pigment in the scale wall
combines with a structural violet pigment to produce a different magneta
pigment.
 In Ornithoptera poseiden, the green color is due to structural blue combined
with yellow pigment in the scales.
 Golden irridescent in the Cassida and its allies is produced by a water film
beneath surface of the cuticle, these insects rapidly lose their color when
dried, but regain color when water received, provided the drying is not for a
long period.
 Color Change In Insects-These are of two types,
1. Physiological color change-
Its unusual in insects, it may occur where colors are produced physically as a
result of changes in spacing between reflecting layers or where color is
produced by pigments as a result of pigment movement.
 For example-tortoise beetles change color when they are disturbed. Normally
beetles are brassy yellow or green, but can change to brown, orange or red
within minutes.
 The elytra of Hercules beetles Dynasters are normally yellow due to layer of
spongy yellow colored cuticle, if this cuticle filled with liquid as it does at
high humidities, light is no longer reflected by it but passes through and
absorbed by black cuticle underneath, making the insect black.
 Color change involving pigmentory movements are known to occur in stick
insect, grasshopper and damsel flies.All these insects become black at night
time due to dark pigment granules to a more superficial position in the
epidermal cells.
2. Morphological color change-
 Many insects change color in the course of development. Eggs of plant bug
Dysdercus cingulatus are white when laid, becoming yellow as the embryo
develops.
 Its also common for caterpillars to exhibit a regular change in color during
development.
 The larva of puss moth Cerura turns from green to red just before pupation
as a result of production of ommochromes in the epidermis.
 In adult hemimetabolous insects, color change is often associated with
ageing and maturation.
 Adult male Schistocerca change from pink to yellow as they mature.
 Color change related to sexual maturation also occurs in some odonata.
 Such changes are also termed as Ontogenetic changes.
3. Homochromy-
 Colors of several insects changes to match predominant color of background.
Such change is termed as homochromy.
 The larvae of grasshopper Gastrimargus when reared on black background,
becomes blackish in color and those reared on white, becomes pale grey in
color.
 On a green background, however most of the grasshoppers develops
yellowish coloration.
 The differences are produced by different amounts of black pigment in
cuticle and dark ommochromes in the epidermis together with yellow and
orange pigments in epidermis.
 Other factors affecting coloration-
1. Temperature-
 Insects reared at very high temperature are pale in color and those reared at
low temperature are dark in color.
2. Humidity-
 It affects coloration of orthoptera.
 Green forms are most likely to occur under humid conditions while brown
forms under dry conditions.
3. Crowding-
 It has an impact on coloration of some insects.
 Locust nymph reared in isolation are green or fawn, while rearing in crowds
produces yellow and black individuals.
 Significance Of Color:-
A. Predator avoidance-
 It involves various mechanisms to avoid the attack of predators by various
mechanisms which are,
1. Crypsis-
 Color often helps to conceal insects from predators, many insects are known
to select backgrounds on which they are less conspicuous.
 Stick insects and many mantids&grasshoppers which maybe leaf like or twig
shaped according to the background on which they normally rest.

2. Deimatic behaviour-
 Some insects species have colored wings or other parts of the body which
are normally concealed, but are displayed suddenly when a potential
predator approaches.
 This behavior sometimes associated with production of sound to startle
predator.
 In many insects exhibiting this behavior, the hind wings are deep red or
black, normally concealed beneath fore wing, but revealed by a sudden
partial openings of wings.
 This occurs in moths, mantids and stick insects.
 Moths in Arctiidae family have bright red or yellow abdomens, often with
black margins, when disturbed, the abdomen is displayed by opening the
wings,
 Some lepidoptera have a pattern of scales on hind wings forming an eyespot
which is displayed when the insect is threatened. e.g-Peacock butterfly
Inachis io
3. Deflection marks-
 Small eyespots often present on underside of hind wings of butterflies,
appear to deflect attention of birds away from the head of the insect.
 Normally there is no sharp difference between eyespots of deimatic behavior
and deflection marks.
 But in general, deflection marks are probably smaller than deimatic
behavior.
4. Aposematic coloration-
 Many insects are distasteful by virtue of chemicals they produce themselves
or that are from their food or sting of other insects.
 Such insects are commonly bright in color & are usually red or yellow
combined with black.
 Such coloration is a signal to predators that the potential prey is distasteful &
it should be avoided.
5. Mimicry-
 Its resemblance of one species to another one.
 Its of two types-Mullerian and Batesian.
1. Mullerian mimicry-
 All species exhibiting mimicry are distasteful.
 Here, predation on any one species is reduced.
 Many social wasp of Vespa&Vespula have the same basic black and yellow
pattern with sting,if a predator learn to avoid one species, its likely to avoid
other with similar appearance.
 In red cotton bug having similar red and black color, all the species are
distasteful.
2. Batesian mimicry-
 Here, only one species among the two is distasteful.
 They are called as model and mimic.
 The mimic or palatable species gain some advantage from their resemblance
to distasteful species.
 If edible mimic becomes too common relative to model, a predator might
learn to associate a particular pattern with palatability rather than
distastefulness.
 In female Papilio dardanus, which has large numbers of mimetic forms,
mimicking a series of quite different looling butterflies.
 A special case of Batesian mimicry occurs when jumping spiders mimic
visual appearance of their own predators.
A. Interspecific recognition-
 Color is important in interspecific recognition in many diurnally active
insects & its role is fully understood in damsel flies, dragon flies and in
butterflies.
 It often has two principle functions in male behaviour: the recognition of
females and the recognition of other males.
 Females also select males by coloration.
 In some dragon flies, male color is important in defending territory against
other males. e.g:The dorsal side of abdomen of male Plathamis lydia is blue,
if second male enters the territory, the resident male faces the intruder and
displays the color by raising abdomen towards vertical, this has inhibiting
effect on intruding male.
 Males of Colias eurytheme are attracted by yellow underside of female
hindwing.
 Females of many species change color as they become sexually mature and
this is associated with male behavior towards them.
 In some social wasps, facial patterns differ between members of the nest and
colony members, so that the colony members can remember the individual
appearance of a nest mate.
 Source of information-
 The insects structure and function-R.F.Chapman.