Butterflies

The wings of butterflies are adorned with a wealth of pattern and colour that are unrivalled in the living world. Some exhibit uniformly-coloured unpatterned white wings; some display bright iridescent blue and green hues; others may present varying shades of black, brown or selected spectral colours. In addition, unseen by human observers, certain wings may produce strong ultraviolet and polarisation effects.

 

 

 

The surface of a butterfly's wing is adorned with thousands of small, flat scales (with dimensions of the order of 75 by 200 microns, one micron being one millionth of a metre) from which wing colours and patterns originate. Although individual scale shape, size and colour do vary from species to species, they generally have a common function as the centres from which wing colour and patterns are generated.