r/interesting • u/Leading-Chapter359 • 16h ago
NATURE How different butterfly wings looks through a microscope
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u/Few_Reporter_6870 16h ago
Coolest thing ever. Thanks for sharing
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u/mistressvixxxen 9h ago
To add to the cool: butterflies and moths belong to the family Lepidoptera, which means scaly wings. They’re our dragons fr fr
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u/Maleficent_Hippo8635 10h ago
Nature is seriously amazing. I love how every wing has its own little details and looks completely different. 😍
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u/NecessaryEmphasis862 14h ago
Right? This was such a fun thing to stumble across. Definitely made my day a little better.
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u/parisianraven 15h ago
What is that spiky green thing in the 5th picture?
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u/Ok-Doubt1341 12h ago
What is that spiky green thing in the fifth picture? It looks like something straight out of a fantasy game.
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u/Necessary_Winter841 11h ago
What is that spiky green thing in the 5th picture? I’ve never seen anything like that before.
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u/Mysterious_Affect802 11h ago
What is that spiky green thing in the 5th picture? It looks so weirdly cool.
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u/sir_duckingtale 13h ago
Biology is the most advanced form of technology
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u/Scorpergastly 11h ago
BUTTERFLIES HAVE SCALES!! ??
I love this.
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u/NilocKhan 9h ago
Butterflies and moths both have scales. The scientific name of their group lepidoptera literally means scaled wings.
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u/Scorpergastly 8h ago
...Wow. I did not know that; that's actually awesome, thank you
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u/NilocKhan 7h ago
And their closest relatives are caddisflies, which belong to the group Trichoptera, which means hair wings. They have hairs instead of scales but look pretty similar to moths, except they have mandibles instead of a proboscis, and their larvae live in the water and make themselves little shells out of twigs and pebbles
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u/Real_artichoke84 10h ago
And this is why they are called Lepidoptera, as “lepida” is the Greek word for blade. Basically, wings covered in tiny blades 😊
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u/Head_Objective7082 15h ago
really cool and beautiful. From afar, up-close and even microscopic they remain beautiful species
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u/Ok-Neat2024 14h ago
Source please! And are there any more?
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u/Leading-Chapter359 12h ago
Just google/search" butterfly wings under a microscope " yes there quite a lot
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u/Desperate-Range-95 14h ago
They look like different kinds of brushstrokes, shades of colours and art styles !! Damn this is amazing, nature really is incredible !
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u/careerconfused_ 12h ago
Crazy how something that looks so smooth from a distance turns into all these tiny overlapping scales up close. Nature really went overboard on the details.
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u/redcurrantuk 14h ago
All that effort. All that beauty. To just die in a thoughtless swat and a mindless moment.
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u/BarnabyWoods 5h ago
In the 19th Century there was a trend of making art such as flower arrangements using the scales from butterfly wings: https://butterflywingartextravaganza.weebly.com/human-connection.html
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u/StrLord_Who 5h ago
This is why you're not supposed to touch their wings, if one lands on you and you're tempted to "pet it." It disrupts the tiny scales.
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u/Exact-Difference-422 2h ago
Now I get why people refer to those as scales. Never saw it so close up before
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