Blue, Not Blue - _TNY_1374
Whenever there is a large blue butterfly in or from South or Central America, some immediately say it's a blue morpho. While this is correct, it isn't just a single species. There are about 30 species of Morpho butterflies (and about 150 subspecies). All of them aren't blue though.
This one - a Peleides blue morpho (Morpho peleides) - is really blue though. Not seeing it? Well that's actually a strategy. The ventral side is shimmering in the most wonderful metallic blue and the idea is that when a bird spots this eye-catching blue colour and tries to catch it, they land, fold up the wings and mister Bird looking for something blue suddenly can't find it anymore.
Interestingly, the blue colour is not achieved by pigmentation of the wings. Instead this happens because of iridescence through structural coloration. The scales reflect light in different layers and the resulting interference effects which of course vary with the angle your eye is seeing them from - leading to the magnificient shimmering effect.
Here is a shot of one with its wings open, showing you how blue they are: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52042598269/
And here is a short clip of a male and female trying to hook up for mating which shows the shimmer quite nicely: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52680739456/
Also, do zoom in on this one to see the almost fabric-like structure of the wings.
Blue, Not Blue - _TNY_1374
Whenever there is a large blue butterfly in or from South or Central America, some immediately say it's a blue morpho. While this is correct, it isn't just a single species. There are about 30 species of Morpho butterflies (and about 150 subspecies). All of them aren't blue though.
This one - a Peleides blue morpho (Morpho peleides) - is really blue though. Not seeing it? Well that's actually a strategy. The ventral side is shimmering in the most wonderful metallic blue and the idea is that when a bird spots this eye-catching blue colour and tries to catch it, they land, fold up the wings and mister Bird looking for something blue suddenly can't find it anymore.
Interestingly, the blue colour is not achieved by pigmentation of the wings. Instead this happens because of iridescence through structural coloration. The scales reflect light in different layers and the resulting interference effects which of course vary with the angle your eye is seeing them from - leading to the magnificient shimmering effect.
Here is a shot of one with its wings open, showing you how blue they are: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52042598269/
And here is a short clip of a male and female trying to hook up for mating which shows the shimmer quite nicely: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52680739456/
Also, do zoom in on this one to see the almost fabric-like structure of the wings.