In 907, the Tang Dynasty, which had been established for 290 years, was destroyed, and China entered the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. According to the "Testament of Kaiyuan Tianbao" written by Wang Renyu of the Fifth Dynasty, "At the end of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the Ming Emperor feasted in the palace every spring at dusk, so that the concubines competed to arrange flowers. The emperor caught the pink butterfly and let it go, and the butterfly stopped with the luck. Later, because Ofe Yang was favored, she did not repeat this play." It is said that the emperor's harem is three thousand beautiful women, but the emperor is also a person, in order to make the rain and dew even, when the Tang Ming palace set up a banquet, the concubines arranged flowers on their heads, Li Longji personally put butterflies, and who fell on their heads was spoiled, which was also considered to be strange enough in the emperor's harem affairs. There are more than 14,000 species of butterflies in the world, most of which are distributed in the Americas, and there are more than 1,300 species in China. "Butterflies with flowers and butterflies are deeply seen, and water dragonflies fly in a bit", butterflies are loved by people for their colorful and beautiful wings.
China's only butterfly is a national first-class protected animal, ranking first among the world's eight most precious butterflies
Golden-spotted beaked butterfly (♀)
Scales on the wings of a butterfly. Photo from photographer Chris Peran
How are butterflies' dazzling colors formed, and what are the different meanings? Marco Giraldo, a doctor of physics at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, after studying the wings of the butterfly and other butterflies, believed that the nanostructures on the wings were the "color factory" of butterflies.
The most beautiful butterfly: the goddess of light butterfly
In the 19th century, the British naturalist Henry Baez spent 11 years collecting more than 14,000 animal specimens in the Amazon River, including a variety of butterflies. He believes that understanding these animals can help us reveal the power of life. And the butterfly, the insect that is considered shallow and frivolous, will become the most valuable spirit in biology.
Most of the more than 10,000 species of butterflies have distinctive wings, like exquisite pictures, like flickering lanterns. The dazzling colors on the wings of a butterfly come from a tiny scaly substance that refracts the colours when illuminated by light. Butterflies form a complete pattern with monochromatic spots, and each colored scale acts as a pixel in the entire pattern. The color of the scales comes from chemicals such as flavonoids and melanin within the cell. These cells also have a lifespan, and after it dies, the colors that were once brilliant also disappear, just as human beings fade with old age.
The pattern-forming cells on a butterfly's wings are already present in their larval stage. British scientist Federico Leot demonstrated this through miniature surgery on the larvae of the African butterfly, which resembles the eyes of a bull on the beautiful wings, which are already revealed when the butterfly is still pupae.
Eye-like markings on the wings
Giraldo emphasized that the color on the butterfly's wings is actually a sign of identity. The different colored wings allow the butterfly to recognize its companions and even distinguish males and females from a long distance.
The butterfly belongs to the family Lepidoptera and belongs to the small and medium-sized butterflies. Affected by the ambient temperature, the individual butterflies grown at high temperatures have large markings on the wings and dark colors, and the individuals grow at low temperatures are light in color and have small markings. Through electron microscopy, Giraldo found that the wings of these butterflies are composed of two layers of scales 3 to 4 microns thick, the upper layer alternately arranged like a roof tile, and the lower layer is smoother. This regular arrangement forms the so-called photonic crystals (nanostructures) that capture light, allowing only certain wavelengths of light to pass through, with the rest refracted efficiently. This determines the different colors. There are subtle differences in pigment composition between male and female individuals. Female Japanese butterflies lack a special pigment particle that is conducive to absorbing ultraviolet rays. Because of this absence, the nanostructures of the wings of the butterfly reflect a difference in color, and following this clue, male individuals can quickly find their mates.
The colorful patterns on the wings of the butterflies are amazing. But their colorful wings aren't just about feasting people's eyes. Colorful colors can be used to hide camouflage, identify and attract mates, etc., and to distinguish between male and female.
The American digital butterfly, with an Arabic-like pattern on the back of its hindwings, is often referred to as the eighty-eight butterfly.
Master of camouflage - dead leaf butterfly
In general, the lifespan of most adult butterfly worms is about 2-3 weeks, and a few can be as long as a few months. The male butterfly is busy looking for the female butterfly to intercourse with, and the female butterfly is focused on finding the host to lay eggs, and after completing the sacred mission of succession, life soon comes to an end.
The largest butterfly in the world: the Alexander Birdwing Butterfly ( ♂ ) , with a left wing to a right wing up to 360 mm
The largest butterfly in the world: the Alexander Birdwing Butterfly ( ♀ ) , with a left wing to a right wing up to 360 mm
The most eerie butterfly: the emperor moth yin and yang butterfly, the left wing is female, the right wing is male, yin and yang chimerism, extremely strange, the probability of production is extremely low
The black-veined golden-spotted butterfly migrates from the United States and Canada to Mexico and other countries every year for the winter
The mobile phone screen is almost impossible to see clearly under the sun due to the strong light, and the manufacturer has to increase the brightness of the screen to cope. The wings of the transient butterfly are also transparent, but do not reflect light, which allows the transient butterfly to be well protected from predatory birds.
The broad-veined black-veined butterfly has transparent wings, and light will pass through the wings of the species without causing reflection, making it difficult to track and detect
The research team at Kit in Germany found that the reason why the transient butterfly is able to achieve low reflection is because there is an irregular nanostructure on the surface of the wing. Transient butterflies do not reflect light at multiple angles. Through electron microscopy, it was found that the transfiguration butterfly showed that the covered nanoscale column clusters were the main reason for maintaining low reflection light, and the study also found that there were nanoleadens on the surface of the wings, and the average height of these nanoleadens was only 400-600 nanometers, and the distance was between 100-140 nanometers, and the magnitude was one thousandth of a hair.
Nanolamps (image from kit)
In addition to theoretical research, kit has made a corresponding prototype, suitable for smart phones, lenses and other glass transparent products, it is worth mentioning that this molded material has been self-cleaning and waterproof function, no need to do waterproof treatment, once applied to the field of smart phones, will bring great effect to the improvement of the screen.