Hobbies And Interests
Butterfly Wing Adaptations
Butterfly wings consist of small scales, which usually carry pigmentation differentiating sex and species. This accounts for the brilliant patterns seen on such insects as the Monarch butterfly. However, the clearwing and glasswing butterflies have relatively few wing scales on large portions of the wing, which may aid in camouflage.
The Family Ithomiidae
Found in the tropical forests of Central and South America, a number of clearwing butterfly species of the family Ithomiidae have highly transparent wings with smaller, sparser scales than other butterflies. These insects have denser scales toward the wingtips, and the veins and terminal borders of the wings contain pigmentation, but the larger surface of the wings is nearly invisible.
Glasswing Butterflies
The glasswing butterflies, such as the cithaerias merolina and greta morgane, are also native to tropical rainforests of Central and South America. The pink glasswing and other variants have thin, hair-like wing scales, unlike the broader, fan-shaped scales seen in other butterfly species.
Clearwinged Butterflies and Predators
In addition to the camouflaging qualities of their wings, clearwing and glasswing butterflies also deter predators by taste. These insects feed from alkaloid-containing flowers, which makes them unpalatable to birds and other predators. For this reason, glasswing caterpillars also feed exclusively on nightshade.