The long evolutionary process has created a variety of adaptive characteristics of animals: the sharp claws of eagles, suitable for hunting; the spikes of porcupines, suitable for resisting enemies; the developed limbs of antelopes, which are conducive to escaping the pursuit of predators; and the stinky farts of weasels, which can drive away predators. Seemingly weak butterflies are not generalists, they are unique in adapting to the environment and dealing with strong enemies, with an unparalleled super IQ, through the color of protection, imitation, vigilance, the deception and intimidation are interpreted smoothly and fascinatingly.
• Where to find the pear blossoms in the dance •
The main reason why butterflies are colorful and beautiful is because their wings are covered with countless scales. The chemical colors produced by the pigment particles in these scales and the physical colors formed by the optical principle work together to create a dizzying combination of complex colors.
Butterflies are able to produce carotenoids and melanins by their own metabolism. Carotenoids form yellow and red, while melanin can form brown and black. For example, the common yellow butterfly, the orange color on the wing surface and the orange yellow on the ventral surface, are mainly derived from carotenoids, while the black leopard print spots are the credit of melanin. The milky white color of the male butterfly and the yellowish yellow color of the female butterfly are mainly due to the retention of flavonoid plant pigments ingested at the larval stage. Scales of different colors are covered in an orderly manner like fish scales, forming a colorful pattern and pattern that allows the butterflies to wear stunning camouflage suits.
"Children rush to chase yellow butterflies, flying into cauliflower and looking nowhere." "Crazy with willow silk sometimes see, dance into the pear blossom where to find." Both Yang Wanli and Xie Yi's poems depict a phenomenon in which butterflies adapt to their environment: the color of butterflies is similar to that of the environment, so it is not easy to be discovered by other animals. The color of the body surface like the color of the butterfly that is similar to the color of the surrounding environment is the protective color.
The Blue Butterfly is a master of color with fantastic wings, and its wings are completely different on both sides. The underside is dull and dull , mottled brown , grey , black or red , with a texture similar to that of dead leaves. When the blue butterfly closes its wings and rests quietly on the dead branches and leaves, it becomes one with its surroundings, at this time, the protective color plays a role, and the predator cannot easily find it. If the predator accidentally hits and approaches it, it will flap its wings violently, and as the sunlight hits the multi-layered three-dimensional fence-like scales, scattering, interfering, and diffraction occurs, the upper surface of the wings shines with a rainbow-like luster of changeable, impermanent blue with green or blue with purple. This "blue phantom" often makes predators dizzy, and the blue flash butterfly takes advantage of the opportunity to slip away.
Blue glitter butterfly
The beautiful and natural color coordination of the butterfly wings provides a valuable reference for designers. The color contrast law of butterfly wings found out through spectral analysis can be applied to the design of clothing, architecture and handicrafts. The principle of flashing, which mimics lepidons, allows textiles and the like to appear in different colors from different angles. It is said that during World War II, the Soviet entomologist Schwanvich proposed to simulate the protective color of butterflies on military facilities according to the bionic principle that butterflies are not easy to find in the natural environment, effectively reducing war losses.
There is a butterfly with "invisible wings", whose wing edges are orange-red or dark brown, but the membrane between the wings does not have any color, there is no scale cover, and it is as transparent as glass, so it is called the glass-winged butterfly, also called the transverse butterfly, the broad-veined black-veined butterfly. When it first feathers, it has a small number of scales on its wings, and as the wings dry quickly, the scales quickly fall off and eventually become transparent. Transparent wings and veins of a columnar structure that greatly reduce reflections constitute an ingenious stealth technique that allows the glass-winged butterfly to blend perfectly into the rainforest background, even if exposed to direct sunlight, making it easy to avoid birds, lizards, toads, praying mantises and other predators. The small, seemingly chaotic shape and size of the glass-winged butterfly veins can effectively reduce light reflection, and its principle may be applied to the screens of computers and smartphones.
Glass-winged butterfly
• Wear flowers butterflies deeply to see •
Blue glitter butterflies, glass-winged butterflies, etc. use protective colors to hide from enemies, while other butterflies do the opposite. Because they have mastered powerful biological and chemical weapons - high poison or stench, they can wear extremely ostentatious "livery" for their bodies: high-saturation red, orange, blue-purple, or high-contrast black-yellow or black-and-white stripes and patterns. These foul-smelling or highly poisonous butterflies warn of predators with bright colors and markings that strongly contrast with the background, so these color markings are called warning colors. The warning color ensures that it is easy to identify, and once the predator accidentally eats it, it will then turn away from similar patterns and colors, because the warning color constantly warns: "Don't touch me, I'm poisonous!" I stink, it's so bad!"
"Wear flowers and butterflies deeply, and fly in the water dragonfly style." The golden-spotted butterfly of the butterfly family is the most common butterfly with a warning color. Butterflies are the largest family of butterflies, they are rich in color, morphology and complex patterns, the most famous of which is the black-veined golden-spotted butterfly.
Black-veined golden-spotted butterfly
Commonly known as the "monarch butterfly", the black-veined golden-spotted butterfly is the only migratory butterfly on Earth and the only long-distance migratory insect to use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate. Monarch butterflies start their migration on precise dates. Every autumn equinox, chasing the lush growth of marigolds, flying over thousands of mountains and rivers, flying from the United States and Canada to the mountainous forests of central Mexico to overwinter; the following spring equinox, and then return by a specific route. However, the round-trip migration is by no means the same batch of monarch butterflies, and a complete migration requires the joint efforts of four generations of monarch butterflies. Monarch butterflies love warmth, warm sunlight brings them endless vitality, when millions of monarch butterflies migrate, orange and yellow butterfly wings in the black veins, golden shining, in the blue sky to draw beautiful curves, dazzling, the scene is quite spectacular.
Many caterpillars prefer to eat poisonous plants and use phytotoxins to build a defense system for themselves. Monarch butterfly caterpillars use marlbus tendons as their only food, and the white milk of marilyns contains cardiac glycosides, which accumulate in the body after eating and are stored for adult worms. Butterflies such as monarch butterflies naturally have the ability to resist cardiac glycosides, but predators often have adverse reactions after eating them. Therefore, whether it is the yellow, white and black stripes of the monarch butterfly caterpillar, or the eye-catching brilliant colors of the adults, they are all warning colors that make predators daunted.
The golden phoenix butterfly has a luxurious posture and bright colors, and prefers to feed on umbelliferous plants such as fennel, so it is also called fennel butterfly. The butterfly accumulates fennel oil in its food on the dorsal plate of its front chest and releases it to drive away predators such as birds when it encounters aggression. In fact, many times predators will run away as soon as they see the warning color of the golden phoenix butterfly, because they still remember the disgusting taste of the golden phoenix butterfly that they have tasted before.
Protective colors and warning colors are diametrically opposed color systems, but many butterflies cleverly break the boundaries between the two, retaining protective colors while having a warning color. In terms of dress, the butterfly's performance is really wonderful.
Golden Butterfly
• Fluttering butterflies without a trace •
The dead leaf butterfly is a model for pretenders in nature. It flaps its wings and soars, revealing the back of its wings that rivals that of a butterfly, like a dark blue velvet with white spots, flashing a dazzling dark blue luster. When encountering natural enemies such as birds, the philosophy of the dead leaf butterfly is that it can't afford to provoke but can hide, and it closes its wings and falls to the ground, fleeting.
What helps the dead leaf butterfly escape the bird's attack is the ingenious color and shape of the ventral surface of the wing: the forewing apex protrudes into a "leaf tip", the end of the hindwing is extended as a "petiole", the black-brown line that runs through the center of the front and back wings resembles the midrib of the leaf, and the other wing veins resemble the lateral veins of the leaf, and the color is based on yellow-brown and reddish-brown, which is scattered with irregular dry yellow, moss-green or translucent markings. The whole dead leaf butterfly is like the dead leaves of a broad-leaved tree with disease spots and about to wither, and it can almost be distorted.
Dead leaf butterfly
Just as the dead leaf butterfly simulates dead leaves to deceive birds, the phenomenon that one organism simulates another organism or simulates other objects in the environment in terms of morphology, behavior, etc. to obtain benefits is called mimicry. The dead leaf butterfly is a well-known mimetic insect. A typical mimetic system is generally composed of mimetics, simulated objects and deceived, such as dead leaf butterflies are mimetics, dead leaves are simulated objects, and birds are deceived. The benefit of the dead leaf butterfly through "hidden mimesis" is to avoid becoming the belly meal of birds.
Adult butterflies dress luxuriously, but the larvae have very different styles. Young larvae have black, white spots and resemble guano when stationary. It makes sense to dress itself up like this: many caterpillars are delicacies for birds, and the larvae of the golden butterfly are no exception. However, birds are not interested in their own feces, and is there anything safer in the world than to simulate feces as a natural enemy?
The old mature larvae of the golden phoenix resemble a rubber toy, and the tender green body is surrounded by black stripes embedded with orange-red dots. In case of shock, the head protrudes from the stinky glands, forming a threatening posture of a poisonous snake spitting out a letter, and emitting a pungent odor for self-defense. Caterpillars, such as the musk butterfly and the ribbon butterfly, feed on poisonous plants of the aristolochia family, and their black bodies are scattered with contrasting red, yellow or white spots, and their whole body is full of protruding burrs or fleshy spines. The bright and dazzling body color of these butterfly larvae is a lifelong warning color for predators, while the bird droppings of young larvae and the stink glands of old mature larvae vividly show the mimesis phenomenon.
Larvae of the golden butterfly
Butterflies have an explosive IQ and are superior in deception. They carry out scams with smells and sounds in addition to color. The pink larvae of the great blue butterfly often trick the ant into bringing it back to the nest through its intoxicating smell and have the ants willingly feed it continuously. Some kind of gray butterfly dark green larvae with yellow stripes also rely on smell deception to break into the well-defended nest, live in it freely, and then smoothly pupate into a butterfly, and then continue to deceive the colony by simulating the sound of the queen.
Nature's madness is beyond imagination, and in the crisis-filled natural world, the harsh living environment forces each species to do everything in its power to actively seek the most favorable way to survive. Both the owl butterfly and the white-spotted butterfly are non-toxic and harmless, and it seems that they cannot escape the fate of being eaten. However, the surface of the owl butterfly wings looks exactly like the face of a fierce owl, and this domineering disguise deters predators such as toads. It's no surprise that adults have superb mimetic skills, and owls and butterflies can also disguise themselves as snake heads to deter predators.
A young boy takes a picture at the London Museum of Nature and Owl Butterflies
The self-protection strategy of the white-spotted butterfly is to simulate the local poisonous large butterfly in terms of body color, morphology and flight posture, forming a false warning color and hiding the sky and crossing the sea, so that predators can retreat. This ability of the white-spotted butterfly was first discovered by the British naturalist Bates, so it is called Bates mimicry. Unlike the Bates mimesis of the fox, which is named after the German zoologist Müller, the poisonous heterotypic purple-spotted butterfly imitates a highly toxic moth, thus sharing the risk of predation.
Both protective colors and mimetics are similar to environmental colors and are not easily recognized, but protective colors are similar to the dominant colors in the environment, while mimesis is similar to a biological or non-biological similarity in the environment. In addition, the protective color is independent of the state of motion, and mimicry generally only behaves at rest. For example, when the wings are folded, the glass butterfly resembles dead bark, and the dead leaf butterfly resembles dead leaves, and once it is flying, it is not like it. The late Tang Dynasty poet Monk Qi Ji's verse "You can find through the shadows of trees, it is difficult to find traces of flowers" is the best illustration of this mimetic feature of butterflies.
Butterflies are very sensitive to their environment, and some butterflies only need a few generations to evolve new colors that harmonize with the environment simply and quickly by fine-tuning their wing structures. In addition to adapting to the environment, the color of butterflies is also closely related to individual communication activities such as regulating body temperature and choosing a mate. However, as the Japanese scholar Maruyama Sotoshi put it: "In many cases, humans do not fully understand the meaning of insect color, and we have a lot of fun in the pursuit of this meaning." ”