Why can't sunlight burn butterfly wings?

Although very thin, the butterfly wings have many veins and scent patches that help release the coolant, they perceive heat better and stay away from heat.

Nan Yu, an applied physicist at Columbia University, said that people used to think that butterflies were covered with tissue like bird feathers, fingernails and human hair. But butterflies have many vital living tissues for survival and flight. High temperatures make insects really uncomfortable.

The thin and semi-transparent nature of the butterfly wings makes it difficult for thermal infrared cameras to distinguish the wings' heat from other heat sources. Therefore, Yu and his colleagues used infrared ultrasound imaging techniques to measure wing temperature and thermal emission at a single resolution for more than 50 species of butterflies.

The latest thermal image shows the living parts of the wing, including the veins that carry blood and the patches or pads that the male uses to release pheromones to release more heat than the surrounding dead scales. , keep the wing area cooler.

Butterfly wings have veins and scent patches that release special structural pheromones that help these areas release more heat than the surrounding parts.(Photo: SN).

Small changes in body temperature can affect the ability of the butterfly to fly because the muscles in the chest must be warm so that the butterfly can flap its wings fast enough to fly. But because the wings are so thin, they heat up faster than the chest and can be burned by the sun.

"Tubular nanostructures and a thicker layer of chitin emit excess heat from living vein tissue. The vein veins are covered with thick chitin, scent pads have nanostructures that help out with heat better than the object. thin and solid material , " Yu said.

However, these structures only protect the wings until a certain time, so that a butterfly can avoid strong light if it is too hot. When the researchers shone the laser onto the scales of the wings, the temperature increased but the butterfly could not feel it. But when the light warms a butterfly's veins, it will flutter its wings or move away from strong heat.

A thick layer of chitin on the veins of butterflies and scent patches, plus the nanostructures in the patches help the tissues to emit higher amounts around the area.(Photo: SN).

The team also found that some butterflies are structured like a heart beating in their wings. It pumps blood all the way to the scent pads and beats a few dozen times every minute. This winged heart is important for the function and survival of the butterfly scent pads.

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