BRILLIANT BUTTERFLY FEATURE CHALLENGES DARWINIAN SELECTION

September 23, 2013

By Brian Thomas, M.S.

How do butterfly’s wings shine? Like almost all other butterflies, the Morpho has wings covered with scales. Typically, pigmentation patterns across these scales generate wing colors, but a Morpho‘s scales deploy an additional feature.

On top of their scales, Morpho butterflies have countless tiny, tree-like structures with suspended branched arms that manipulate light waves. Spacing among the branches helps match targeted light-wavelengths, like blue for example. Repeated reflections of the same wavelength cause interference effects that, when viewed from certain angles, generate stunning iridescence.

You can read the rest of the article HERE.

This video is featured in my friend Manny’s blog post:

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