License: CC0
Original Size: 6000 × 2526 pixels
Description: Recently, it was discovered that various insects with seemingly transparent wings, display vivid structural coloration against dark backgrounds. Wavelength of the reflected light is dependent on the thickness of the chitinous membrane of the wing, microstructures (see at high magnification), hair and scale placement, and venation. In some insects (Drosophila sp.), WIPs may function as species- and sex-specific visual mating cues in a range of taxa. The role of species-specific WIPs in Culicidae mosquitoes is unknown.
About 70 small, partial focus stacked images across the mosquito wing were photomicrographed at 50X magnification with the Microscope Nikon Eclipse FN1 and digital camera Nikon DS-Ri2. These small image stacks were merged together using the image processing software Photoshop.
Image was taken on November 18, 2021. The image is a crop of the very large original image with the resolution of 41632 x 17530 pixels.