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The peacock or green swallowtail (''Papilio blumei'') is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found only on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. It is sometimes confused with the more widespread ''P. palinurus'', but that species is smaller and has mostly black tails (in ''P. blumei'', the upper surface of the tails is mostly bluish-green). The wingspan of ''P. blumei'' is . The colors on the wings of some of these butterflies are metallic and are eye catchy especially when viewed from a particular angle. The remarkable feature of this butterfly’s wing is that it contains rows of very small concave surfaces that reflect light in many ways.For instance, the center of the concave surface reflects a yellow-green light and the edges reflect a blue light. At the center of the concavity, light is reflected directly but when light hits the edges, it bounces off into forming many layers, which amplifies and rotates the waves of light. The final blend is known as structural color due to the complexity by which it is produced. ==Technological inspiration== Researchers have taken about ten years to recreate a simplified replica of the surface of the butterfly’s wing. They hope that such technology will result in bank notes and credit cards that are difficult to forge〔(How butterflies’ wings could cut bank fraud ). cam.ac.uk (2010-05-28). Retrieved on 2014-08-27.〕〔(From butterflies' wings to bank notes: How nature's colors could cut bank fraud ). Science Daily (May 30, 2010). Retrieved on 2014-08-27.〕 and also that it will lead to solar cells being more efficient at gathering energy from the sun. Yet it is challenging to duplicate the surface of a butterfly’s wing. Professor Ullrich Steiner of the Cambridge University’s Nanoscience Centre states that, “Despite the detailed scientific understanding of optics, the astonishingly varied colour palette found in nature often surpasses the optical effects that can be generated by technological means”. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Papilio blumei」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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