This Is How Butterflies Get Their Colors
Butterflies are one of the most beautiful insects to exist. This is because of their bright colors and different patterns, but how do they get these colors? GoodNet has the answer to this question.
A study was recently published in Nature Communications that tells us how butterflies develop these amazing colors. University and the Central Laser Facility scientists used powerful microscopes to watch different butterfly wings while they developed. While doing this they discovered that there is actually one specific protein that is responsible for how the colors are arranged in butterfly wings. The protein is called actin and the denser that it is the more colorful a butterfly’s wings become.
This means that the colors in butterfly wings are made structurally. Harsh conditions like the sun can’t change their colors or wash them out in any way because of the fact that the colors are structural.
Dr Andrew Parnell, the lead author of the University of Sheffield’s study, says “actin is like a dressmaker, laying out and pinning the arrangement of these structures to shape the vibrant colors. Once the actin has finished its work it departs the cell like the removal of pins in dressmaking.”
Butterflies are extremely important to our environment because of all the pollinating that they do. Their added beauty and the joy that they bring is just an added bonus to the good that they do. It’s incredible that we’re now so close to figuring out how butterflies got their stunning vibrant look.