A stunning video has revealed how butterflies grow and assemble together the tiny scales that make up their wings as they undergo the process of metamorphosis.
These scales — which number in the hundreds of thousands — both give butterfly wings their colour and shimmer, as well as act to protect against the elements.
Massachussets Institute of Technology experts used an advanced imaging technique to map out the scales on the wings of painted lady butterflies as they formed.
This is the very first time such a process has been captured in real-time — with experts previously having to rely on snapshots of moments in wing development.
Their findings, the team said, could serve as a blueprint for the development of new materials for applications including iridescent windows and waterproof textiles.
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A stunning video has revealed how butterflies grow and assemble together the tiny scales that make up their wings as they undergo the process of metamorphosis. Pictured: overlapping scales seen in the process of development. Each scal is around 50 micrometres across
Scales — which number in the hundreds of thousands — both give butterfly wings their colour and shimmer, as well as act to protect against the elements. Pictured: a painted lady
The study was undertaken by mechanical engineer Anthony McDougal and his colleagues at the Massachussets Institute of Technology.
'Butterflies control many of their wing attributes by precisely forming the structural architecture of their wing scales,' explained Dr McDougal.
Learning how to employing a similar strategy 'might be used, for example, to give both colour and self-cleaning properties to automobiles and buildings.
'Now we can learn from butterflies' structural control of these complex, micro-nanostructured materials.'
To capture how wing scales are formed, the researchers first raised caterpillars in individual containers. They chose to study the painted lady (Vanessa cardui), a species whose wings have features that are common across most butterflies.
Once each insect had encased itself in a chrysalis and begun its metamorphosis, the team carefully cut into the paper-thin material, peeling away a small square — which they filled with a transparent window — letting them look in on the developing wing.
Finally, the team used a type of imaging known as 'speckle-correlation reflection phase microscopy', which works by shining numerous small points of light across the wing and measuring how each is reflected back to create a map of the subject.
The advantage of this speckle field rather than a wide beam of light, the experts explained, is that it doesn't risk harming the pupa's delicate cells.
'A speckled field is like thousands of fireflies that generate a field of illumination points,' said paper author and biological imaging expert Peter So.
'Using this method, we can isolate the light coming from different layers, and can reconstruct the information to map efficiently a structure in 3D.'
Massachussets Institute of Technology experts used an advanced imaging technique to map out the scales (pictured) on the wings of painted lady butterflies
