Large-scale 3D imaging of insects with natural color.

High-resolution 3D imaging technology has found a number of applications in many biological fields. However, the existing 3D imaging tools are often too time-consuming to use on large-scale specimens, such as centimeter-sized insects. In addition, most 3D imaging systems discard the natural color information of the specimens. To surmount these limitations, we present a structured illumination-based approach capable of delivering large field-of-view three-dimensional images. With this approach, 580nm lateral resolution full-color 3D images and 3D morphological data in the size range of typical insect samples can be obtained. This method provides a promising approach that can be used to support many different types of entomological investigations, including taxonomy, evolution, bionics, developmental biology, functional morphology, paleontology, forestry, etc.