Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Butterflies

I recently began following some blogs on wildlife gardening. I came across a blog that is authored by the keepers of the BioWorks Butterfly Gardens at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa, Florida. There are so many interesting facts about butterflies that I had no idea of, so I wanted to share some with you today. Butterflies each have four wings, two fore wings and two hind wings. Butterflies and moths belong to the order Lepidoptera. This name means "scale- wing" in Latin and refers to the scale cell structures found on the wings.
Scales: These tiny scales are not very noticeable to the eye when looking at a whole butterfly wing, but if the wing is touched you will find a fine colored dust left behind. That dust is actually the tiny scales that cover the wings of the insect.  In butterflies, these scales overlap in orderly rows just like shingles on a roof.  Without the support of the wing scales, butterfly wings are not as structurally sound and are more likely to break.
 These tiny wing scales plug into equally tiny sockets on the wings and are individually colored to create the incredible wing patterns.


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Special Scales: Lastly, some butterfly scales are very specialized. Androconia are a specialized scales on male butterflies that are scented to help attract mates during courtship. The tiny hairs that can be seen on a butterfly's head are actually scale that stand straight up and just look like hairs. WHO KNEW??? 

22 comments:

  1. Very interesting post! Thanks for sharing.

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  2. cool post! are those your photos? I'm getting ready to do some butterfly paintings.

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  3. I love butterflies but didn't know much about them. Nice post!

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  4. Hey Susie,
    The photos are not mine, wish they were.

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  5. Interesting information. Butterflies are so beautiful.

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  6. Thanks for the information. I did not know any of this about butterfly's.

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  7. Great post! Love the picture of the butterfly scales! So interesting!

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  8. Wow, did not know alot of that information...Thanks for sharing.

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  9. Interesting! Butterflies are beautiful!

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  10. Butterflies are so beautiful and delicate. Thanks for the post. Great facts. =)
    ~Kim

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  11. Wow! Very interesting.
    I love butterflies colors. Thanks for sharing.

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  12. Very nice! Galla loves dragonflies. Can you take photos for her? Please...

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  13. Hey Inessa,
    Not my photos, sorry. I ♥ dragonflies as well.

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  14. I learned a lot from your post! Lovely pics too.

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  15. interesting facts on the butterflies, I never knew.

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  16. as a Biology graduate I of course find all these fascinating! Thanks for a wonderful post abt this delicate creatures!:)

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  17. I learned something new today! Thanks for sharing:)

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  18. They never taught THAT in biology!! How intriguing!

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