Optics of the ultraviolet reflecting scales of a jumping spider

The jumping spider Cosmophasis umbratica from Singapore is strongly sexually dimorphic. The males, but not the females, reflect ultraviolet as well as green–orange light. The scales responsible for this are composed of a chitin–air–chitin sandwich in which the chitin layers are three-quarters of a wavelength thick and the air gap a quarter wavelength (where λ=600 nm, the peak wavelength of the principal reflection maximum). It is shown that this configuration produces a second reflectance peak at approximately 385 nm, accounting for the observed reflection in the ultraviolet. Other scales have a similar thickness of chitin but lack the air gap and thus produce a dull purple reflection. This novel mechanism provides the spiders with two colour signals, both of which are important in mating displays.