Pigment or Light Refraction?

[Dr Acula]

Over lunch, me and my dad had a debate on T's bright blue colorings. My side was that the color simply comes from pigment of the tarantula's hair/exoskeleton. His side was that, like butterflies, it was light refraction. To back up his side, he said most invertebrates lack real bright blue coloring and that it's actually light refracting off of their hair/exoskeleton? Any ideas on this?
~Thank you in advance

 

[Hobo]

After a quick search, It seems that tarantulas have little to no actual pigment, and is mostly refraction.

 

[baconmushroom]

1 point for dad, zilch for arachnoboards user..lol

BTW its really nice that you have these kinds of conversation with your dad, really cool.

 

[Dr Acula]

After a quick search, It seems that tarantulas have little to no actual pigment, and is mostly refraction.

hmm, you learn something new everyday

1 point for dad, zilch for arachnoboards user..lol

BTW its really nice that you have these kinds of conversation with your dad, really cool.

Lolz, definitely gotta inform him of his win

Yea, I've pretty much tarantula-brainwashed both of my parents my dad's favorite is H. lividum :clap:

 

[Zoltan]

Your father's right. There's one article (maybe there are others) published on what causes the blue coloration in tarantulas. It's written in German, only the summary is available in English.

Foelix, R. F., B. Erb & B. Wullschleger. 2009. Worauf beruht die Blaufärbung gewisser Vogelspinnenarten? ARACHNE 13 (3): 4-12.

Summary. Several species of tarantulas (theraphosids) exhibit a deep blue coloration of various body parts. The blue color is confined to small hairs of only 5–6 µm diameter, which lie rather flat above the cuticle. The blue coloration is not due to pigments but results from an interference of light with the lamellated hair wall, where thin cuticular layers (50–75 nm) alternate with thin air spaces. Similar multi-layered structures of the same dimensions are wellknown from iridescent scales in butterflies or from shiny feathers in birds.

 

[Dr Acula]

Your father's right. There's one article (maybe there are others) published on what causes the blue coloration in tarantulas. It's written in German, only the summary is available in English.

Foelix, R. F., B. Erb & B. Wullschleger. 2009. Worauf beruht die Blaufärbung gewisser Vogelspinnenarten? ARACHNE 13 (3): 4-12.

Summary. Several species of tarantulas (theraphosids) exhibit a deep blue coloration of various body parts. The blue color is confined to small hairs of only 5–6 µm diameter, which lie rather flat above the cuticle. The blue coloration is not due to pigments but results from an interference of light with the lamellated hair wall, where thin cuticular layers (50–75 nm) alternate with thin air spaces. Similar multi-layered structures of the same dimensions are wellknown from iridescent scales in butterflies or from shiny feathers in birds.

That's a shame it hasn't been translated to english :drool:

But thank you for that summary, i'll be sure to copy that down in my T logs i have at home.