Winged butterfly

Winged butterfly
	Winged butterfly
Systematics
Order :	Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family :	Noble butterfly (Nymphalidae)
Subfamily :	Danainae
Genre :	Greta
Tribe :	Ithomiini
Type :	Winged butterfly
Scientific name
	Greta oto
	( Hewitson , 1854)

The glass winged butterfly ( Greta oto ) is a Latin American butterfly species from the noble butterfly family ( Nymphalidae ). It is one of the very few butterfly species with completely transparent wings except for the edge areas, which is also the property that gives it its name. The winged butterfly is mainly found in the central to northern regions of South America and can be seen as far as Texas and Chile.

Taxonomy

Greta oto is a species of butterfly and belongs to the family of noble butterflies ( Nymphalidae ) → subfamily of Danainae → tribe of Ithomiini → genus Greta .

Occasionally there are other classifications, some authors see the three tribes of the Danainae (Danaini, Tellervini and Ithomiini) as subfamilies within the Nymphalidae.

The species Greta oto is occasionally classified as a subspecies of Greta morgane .

habitat

The winged butterfly is most common in Central and South America because it needs the tropical conditions of the rainforest. Occasionally it can be seen in the north as far as Mexico and Texas and in the south as far as Chile.

Way of life

Eggs

The eggs are usually laid on hammer bushes ; Hammer shrubs are nightshades . The plant serves as a food source for the larvae.

Larvae or caterpillar form

The caterpillars of the butterfly butterfly have a green body with bright purple and red stripes. The larvae have a cylindrical shape with smooth dorsal protrusions. Their shape and color make the larvae extremely reflective, making them essentially invisible to predators. The caterpillars feed on the nightshade family (Solanaceae) - mainly from species of hammer bushes . They ingest alkaloids via the hammer bushes, which not only make the caterpillars, but also the later moths inedible for predators. Experimental studies have shown that larvae placed on other host plants died or developed more slowly.

Greta oto

Doll

The pupae are silver to dark gray in color, have a distinctive shape and hang upside down on the underside of the leaf. The caterpillar spins a wad of silk that is glued to the underside of the leaf and firmly connects the pupa to the leaf.

Adult form

The adult glass winged butterfly can be recognized by its transparent wings with opaque dark brown, red or orange tinted edges. The body is dark brown in color. The butterflies are 2.8 to 3.0 inches long and have a wingspan of 5.6 to 6.1 inches. The moths like to suck on lantana ( Lantana camara ). The genus Lantana ( Lantana ) include up to 150 species of perennial flowering plants.

Migratory movement

Glass winged butterflies are migratory butterflies, they move up to 19 km a day and can reach speeds of up to 13 km / h.

Predators

Birds are common predators of this butterfly.

Toxins

By consuming nightshade plants through the caterpillar and butterfly shape, the species absorbs toxins that give the butterfly a foul taste.

transparency

The winged butterfly uses the transparency of its wings to hide from enemies. Transparency is a rare feature in butterflies; Mimicry is more common.

physiology

Nanopills on the surface of the winged butterfly.

Transparent wings

The transparency of the wings by Greta oto results from the combination of several properties: The wing material absorbs only little visible light, only scatters little light through the wings and reflects only little light. The latter occurs for a wide range of incident wavelengths and covers the entire visible spectrum and all angles of incidence.

In order to be transparent, the fabric must neither absorb nor scatter light, the primary obstacle to transparency being light scattering. To avoid light scattering, the organism must consist of a non-absorbent material with a homogeneous refractive index. Since the biological and chemical compounds occurring in most species have different refractive indices ((n = 1.3–1.55) and air (n = 1)), which correlate closely with the density, an important basis for the transparency must be on the structural Characteristics are based.

The transparent area of the butterfly's wings is covered with high aspect ratio microhairs commonly known as piliform scales or bristles (also called nanopills ). The microhairs are 40 to 50 μm apart, their typical thickness and height are around 2 and 40 μm, respectively. The microhairs also improve the hydrophobicity of the wings. The SEM images of the brown and white scales show the usual oval shape with a typical width of 50 µm and a length of 200 µm.

The broadband and omnidirectional anti-reflection property means that, depending on the viewing angle, only two to five percent of the light is reflected back, for comparison: glass reflects around 8% of the light when incident perpendicularly and in air; this value increases with the angle of incidence up to almost 100% . The random height distribution of the microhairs almost completely prevents the butterfly from reflecting incident solar radiation.

The main predators to the winged butterfly are a variety of birds known to have keen eyesight. The permeability of the wings to visible, infrared and ultraviolet radiation thus enables good camouflage.

Applications of modified transparent materials

With the knowledge gained from researching the structure of the transparent wings of the winged butterfly, it might be possible to construct an almost perfect anti-reflective surface for a broadband wavelength range and a wide range of viewing angles. Such anti-reflection surfaces could contribute to improving the collection of light in solar cells or to increasing the performance of optical elements such as mirrors, lenses or photo detectors.

Compared to classic multi-layer anti-reflective coatings, which add a thickness of at least 1 μm to the surface, the glass wing structures are comparatively thin because their average height is only 500 nm and they are also hydrophobic.

The fabrication of similar structures with random height structures on a large scale seems feasible through advanced etching techniques.

Web links

Commons : Glass butterfly - collection of images, videos and audio files

Forest spirit Greta oto . Insektenbox.de, by Wilfried Funk, accessed on August 27, 2019.
Greta morgane oto (Hewitson, 1855) ('Darkened' Rusty Clearwing) . butterfliesofamerica.com, Butterflies of America Foundation. accessed on August 27, 2019.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Henderson, Carrol L .: Field guide to the wildlife of Costa Rica . 1st ed. University of Texas Press, Austin 2002, ISBN 0-292-73128-0 , pp. 56 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c Daniel Lingenhöhl: A ghostly butterfly. In: Spektrum.de. Spektrum.de, April 22, 2015, accessed on July 17, 2019 .
↑ Abigail L. Ingram, Andrew R. Parker: Structure, mechanism and mechanical properties of pupal attachment in Greta oto (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Ithomiinae) . In: Entomological Science . tape 9 , no. 1 , 2006, ISSN 1479-8298 , p. 109-120 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1479-8298.2006.00158.x .
↑ Kristensen, Niels P .: Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies, 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Manual of Zoology 4 . W. de Gruyter, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-11-015704-7 , pp. 292 f .
↑ ^a ^b Nathaniel Jenkins |: Featured Creature: Glasswinged Butterfly | Blog | Nature | PBS. Retrieved July 16, 2019 (American English).
↑ ^a ^b ^c Behavior and natural history of Greta oto in captivity (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Ithomiinae). | Tropical Lepidoptera Research . ( flvc.org [accessed July 16, 2019]).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Hendrik Hölscher, Guillaume Gomard, Radwanul Hasan Siddique: The role of random nanostructures for the omnidirectional anti-reflection properties of the glasswing butterfly . In: Nature Communications . tape 6 , April 22, 2015, ISSN 2041-1723 , p. 6909 , doi : 10.1038 / ncomms7909 ( nature.com [accessed July 16, 2019]).
^ ^A ^b Sönke Johnsen: Hidden in Plain Sight: The Ecology and Physiology of Organizmal Transparency . In: The Biological Bulletin . tape 201 , no. 3 , December 2001, ISSN 0006-3185 , p. 301-318 , doi : 10.2307 / 1543609 .
^ ^A ^b Valerie R. Binetti, Jessica D. Schiffman, Oren D. Leaffer, Jonathan E. Spanier, Caroline L. Schauer: The natural transparency and piezoelectric response of the Greta oto butterfly wing . In: Integrative Biology: Quantitative Biosciences from Nano to Macro . tape 1 , no. 4 , 2009, ISSN 1757-9708 , p. 324-329 , doi : 10.1039 / b820205b , PMID 20023733 .
^ ^A ^b Valerie R. Binetti, Jessica D. Schiffman, Oren D. Leaffer, Jonathan E. Spanier, Caroline L. Schauer: The natural transparency and piezoelectric response of the Greta oto butterfly wing . In: Integrative Biology . tape 1 , no. 4 , 2009, ISSN 1757-9694 , p. 324 , doi : 10.1039 / b820205b ( oup.com [accessed July 16, 2019]).

[:0-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Henderson, Carrol L .: Field guide to the wildlife of Costa Rica . 1st ed. University of Texas Press, Austin 2002, ISBN 0-292-73128-0 , pp. 56 .

[:7-2] Daniel Lingenhöhl: A ghostly butterfly. In: Spektrum.de. Spektrum.de, April 22, 2015, accessed on July 17, 2019 .

[3] Abigail L. Ingram, Andrew R. Parker: Structure, mechanism and mechanical properties of pupal attachment in Greta oto (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Ithomiinae) . In: Entomological Science . tape 9 , no. 1 , 2006, ISSN 1479-8298 , p. 109-120 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1479-8298.2006.00158.x .

[4] Kristensen, Niels P .: Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies, 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Manual of Zoology 4 . W. de Gruyter, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-11-015704-7 , pp. 292 f .

[:1-5] Nathaniel Jenkins |: Featured Creature: Glasswinged Butterfly | Blog | Nature | PBS. Retrieved July 16, 2019 (American English).

[:2-6] Behavior and natural history of Greta oto in captivity (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Ithomiinae). | Tropical Lepidoptera Research . ( flvc.org [accessed July 16, 2019]).

[:5-7] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Hendrik Hölscher, Guillaume Gomard, Radwanul Hasan Siddique: The role of random nanostructures for the omnidirectional anti-reflection properties of the glasswing butterfly . In: Nature Communications . tape 6 , April 22, 2015, ISSN 2041-1723 , p. 6909 , doi : 10.1038 / ncomms7909 ( nature.com [accessed July 16, 2019]).

[:3-8] A ^b Sönke Johnsen: Hidden in Plain Sight: The Ecology and Physiology of Organizmal Transparency . In: The Biological Bulletin . tape 201 , no. 3 , December 2001, ISSN 0006-3185 , p. 301-318 , doi : 10.2307 / 1543609 .

[:4-9] A ^b Valerie R. Binetti, Jessica D. Schiffman, Oren D. Leaffer, Jonathan E. Spanier, Caroline L. Schauer: The natural transparency and piezoelectric response of the Greta oto butterfly wing . In: Integrative Biology: Quantitative Biosciences from Nano to Macro . tape 1 , no. 4 , 2009, ISSN 1757-9708 , p. 324-329 , doi : 10.1039 / b820205b , PMID 20023733 .

[:6-10] A ^b Valerie R. Binetti, Jessica D. Schiffman, Oren D. Leaffer, Jonathan E. Spanier, Caroline L. Schauer: The natural transparency and piezoelectric response of the Greta oto butterfly wing . In: Integrative Biology . tape 1 , no. 4 , 2009, ISSN 1757-9694 , p. 324 , doi : 10.1039 / b820205b ( oup.com [accessed July 16, 2019]).