| the origin of extensive colour polymorphism in plateumaris sericea (chrysomelidae, coleoptera). | evidence is presented to demonstrate that colour polymorphism in a beetle arises from structural colours produced by a five-layered reflector in the elytron. the colour of leaf beetles, plateumaris sericea, ranges across the visible spectrum from blackish-blue to red. the elytra have two distinct layers: epicuticle and exocuticle. morphological observations reveal that the multilayer structure within the exocuticle differs little among the different colour morphs but the layers within the epicut ... | 2002 | 12216857 |