This Brazilian Velvet Ant Is So Dark That It’s Ultrablack
The New York Times
Scientists found that the dark markings on a species of fluffy wasp reflected less than 1 percent of light.
The first thing to understand about velvet ants is that they are not, in fact, ants. They’re wasps, some of which are wingless, and are named in part for their fluffy exteriors.
About the size of a board game die, one species of velvet ant is known for its distinct black and white markings, which dazzle the eye as the creatures scurry across tropical savanna and a dry shrub desert in Brazil called the Caatinga.
It “looks like magic,” said Vinicius Lopez, an entomologist at the Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro in Brazil who studies insect coloration. The effect makes them easy to lose sight of, he said with the help of a colleague who translated his remarks to English. It is perhaps why some Brazilians refer to them colloquially as sorcerer ants.
A team of scientists led by Dr. Lopez recently found that the black parts on female velvet ants were actually ultrablack — so matte that they absorbed nearly all visible light. The discovery, published in the Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology this month, makes this particular species of velvet ant, Traumatomutilla bifurca, the first known insect among Hymenoptera — the group of animals consisting of bees, wasps and ants — to display such a striking shade.
“We have never seen this kind of color in the dragonflies or bees or beetles we have analyzed,” said Rhainer Guillermo-Ferreira, another entomologist at the Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro and an author of the paper.
In nature, some blacks are blacker than others. There’s your run-of-the-mill black, which is caused by the presence of melanin and displays some sheen, like the feathers on a crow. Then there’s ultrablack, sometimes called superblack, a shade achieved by microstructures that swallow nearly all of the light hitting a surface.
New findings suggest that an extraordinarily powerful and dangerous burst of radiation might flare from our sun in the future.
Anchored by juicy braised duck and finished with an unforgettable family-size crème brûlée, this menu from Clare de Boer will have everyone talking.
The shower forms from the debris of an asteroid and peaks this weekend. But a nearly full moon could interfere with viewing.
The opposing paths taken by two powerful firms — Benchmark and Andreessen Horowitz — embody a profound debate about the future of an industry that funds and fosters American innovation.
Aaron Siri, who specializes in vaccine lawsuits, has been at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s side reviewing candidates for top jobs at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Scientists are concerned that the H5N1 virus could set off another human pandemic. But it is already putting species under pressure in the wild.
The scarcity and fragility of rare old bottles makes them naturally memorable, but these 12 younger wines had their own unforgettable charms.
DNA from European fossils dating back 45,000 years offers new clues to how our species spread across the world.
An intense struggle has unfolded in Washington between companies and officials over where to draw the line on selling technology to China.
There’s a universal — and easy — answer to a common kitchen predicament.
More adolescents than ever are watching it. What’s needed, researchers say, are frank conversations and “porn literacy.”