The Moth that Should have Taken a Note from the Fly
Nov 04, 2020 • 5:43 PM UTC
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ZachSahin
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Gather round gather round! Don’t be shy, you gotta get close to see this story!
Hopefully, you’ve heard of the magnetic and legendary Nat King Cole. If you haven’t it’s a sad world that you live in and you need to look him up right now, or click this link .
No more stalling!
Time to get to the story of the moth that should have taken a note from the fly – Nat King Cole’s fly who learned to “Straighten Up and Fly Right.”
I’m looking around my yard, on the roof, in the garage, by the pool, down the hill, out of the house, up the street, all over like Ferris Bueller in Chicago. I conducted this project as part of Professor Pringle’s EEB321 class at Princeton University, and we needed to get the scoop on a microcosmic shebang! What else was I to do but explore? And what kinda monster explores without some music? So I’m listening to Nat King Cole, when I stumble upon this poor little guy all wrapped up, or should I say trapped up, in a spider’s web.
Spoilers!
Hopefully, you’ve heard of the magnetic and legendary Nat King Cole. If you haven’t it’s a sad world that you live in and you need to look him up right now, or click this link .
No more stalling!
Time to get to the story of the moth that should have taken a note from the fly – Nat King Cole’s fly who learned to “Straighten Up and Fly Right.”
I’m looking around my yard, on the roof, in the garage, by the pool, down the hill, out of the house, up the street, all over like Ferris Bueller in Chicago. I conducted this project as part of Professor Pringle’s EEB321 class at Princeton University, and we needed to get the scoop on a microcosmic shebang! What else was I to do but explore? And what kinda monster explores without some music? So I’m listening to Nat King Cole, when I stumble upon this poor little guy all wrapped up, or should I say trapped up, in a spider’s web.
Spoilers!
He didn’t make it out of that web alive… I watched him flap and flap and flap and I rushed over, but I didn’t want to meddle in a world that I had no business meddling. However, I decided in the name of discovering why this moth could not make it out, even though his wings were free from the web, to Dr. Frankenstein it with the Foldscope and procure a detailed glimpse at the wings themselves.
On initial review, the wings appear to be just blobs of amber, however when I focused the lens, I began to notice the bleeding light and hackysack patchwork structure of the wings. In the picture above you can also notice the slight overlap of the wings, that darker mid-line, as the wings are actually split into three distinct somewhat overlapping portions.
When shifting the view of the lens again, moving slightly to the right of the overlap onto one of the darker patterned pieces of the wing, you can notice the very minuscule hairlike tendrils that make up the wing – touching the wings feels similar to touching the leaf of a dandelion. Is it something to do with this patchwork structure of the wings that prevented it from gathering the force to combat the web?
I’m not sure… I did notice another exciting bit when removing the wing from the fold scope. What was left in its place were minuscule flakes of the wing, which appeared to be the locations above where we could see gaps in the structure of the wing.
I’m not sure… I did notice another exciting bit when removing the wing from the fold scope. What was left in its place were minuscule flakes of the wing, which appeared to be the locations above where we could see gaps in the structure of the wing.
When examining these speckles under the lend scope we can see that there are no longer any of the gaps from before, as these fine particles are intact themselves. This leads me to believe that the wings are still a patchwork, but so tightly connected that, if not tempered with, appears to be one whole “limb” of the moth.
I don’t know why this moth’s wings began to flake off, but If I had a guess to base further research off of, I would offer that it was this flaking, the breaking down of the wings, that prevented the liftoff. Further research into this specific species of moth and how its wings operate would be able to possibly begin answering some of the questions that I have, but for now I’ll leave you with one final thought.
To all the moths out there, if you find yourself caught in a spider’s web, “straighten up and fly right,” or you’ll end up like this poor buggard above.
I don’t know why this moth’s wings began to flake off, but If I had a guess to base further research off of, I would offer that it was this flaking, the breaking down of the wings, that prevented the liftoff. Further research into this specific species of moth and how its wings operate would be able to possibly begin answering some of the questions that I have, but for now I’ll leave you with one final thought.
To all the moths out there, if you find yourself caught in a spider’s web, “straighten up and fly right,” or you’ll end up like this poor buggard above.
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