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Scales on a moth wing

| Sun, Jun 05, 2016, 6:37 AM



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I found a dead moth in a box. I saw its wings under a foldscope and saw that there were scales on the wings. I noticed that some scales had come off the wing. The color of the scales are light brown and different from the moth’s wings? Why is that?

I learnt that moths and butterflies have scales to get off spider’s webs. Also I noticed that they are not like turtle scales. If a moth enters a spider’s web it can easily get off because the scales come off. But what if it goes through many spider webs?

–Aditi, 1st grade.




Locations



Categories

Type of Sample
microorganisms
Foldscope Lens Magnification
140x

Comments


Manu Prakash 8 years ago
@Aditi: what a fantastic post and what a fantastic question to think about. Sometime I feel we truly need lots of imagination to make sense of biology; and understand the life of the marvelous creatures. Looking at the times when moths do get stuck in spider webs; and your reasoning – we could make a hypothesis that loosing scale increases the probability of getting eaten by a spider. Also, we have to remember – the moth has to untangle and get out of the web fast – since the spider is not going to wait around and give moth the time (spiders can sense vibrations and know they have a guest at home). Now the plot can thicken; if you go find a spider web and see what the threads are made out of. For the trick to work; I would urge to look for a one or two day old spider web and not something that’s too old. You will find a little surprise on the threads that is also one part of the story. But I will wait till you get a spider web. Also; moth and butterfly scales were at some point a living cell. It’s s pretty big flat living cell. How can a cell become this perfect scale like structure (which happens in early stage if butterfly/mouth – when they are in the pupae). Wouldn’t it be fun to compare what a scale looks like inside the pupae. Although we will have to find a moth pupae to sacrifice for that. Great to read your post 🙂 you have got me thinking.. Cheers Manu