1. photosynthesis
  2. The King of Butterflies

The King of Butterflies

By ejohnson on September 15, 2009.


i-00c1613074b4427e3e46542363bf0d75-K08SEMmonarch-Wing035small.jpg






















A scanning electron microscope image of a monarch butterfly wing.

Since a scanning electron microscope only collects a black and white image (representing intensity of electrons) the image must be colorized with photoshop. The colors are fairly close to the real colors of the wing.

The wing is composed of scales or platelets that in turn have a micro structure that creates turbulence as the wing moves through the air. The turbulence is responsible for decreasing drag on the wing and allows the butterfly to move with less energy.

Monarch Butterflies are native to North America where they migrate each spring from a wintering ground in Mexico. Each generation moves further north until the last generation gets the urge to migrate back to Mexico. Many Monarch butterflies are blown off course by storms. The butterflies in modern times have established themselves where ever there is a suitable host plant. Fairly recently monarchs have become established in New Zealand. Monarchs were not established in New Zealand until the caterpillar's host plant of milkweed was accidentally released in the early 1900's.

--------

This post was written by Ted Kinsman for Photo Synthesis

Tags
Butterflies
insects

More like this

Monarch Butterflies and Milkweed: An amazing new book
Monarchs and Milkweed: A Migrating Butterfly, a Poisonous Plant, and Their Remarkable Story of Coevolution by Anurag Agrawal is a fantastic, readable, scientifically rich, detailed monograph about – you guessed it – the monarch butterfly and the milkweed plant. The monarch butterfly begins a…
But it Still Doesn't Sound Pretty...
The world of X-ray photography is a very interesting place and surprises are often found in every image. X-rays are similar to Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) in the sense that the collected images are only black and white. To take these image I use a scientific X-ray machine at a local…
Migratory Monarch Butterflies 'See' Earth's GeoMagnetic Field
tags: evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, biochemistry, biophysics, magnetoreception, photoreceptor, cryptochromes, geomagnetic fields, butterflies, Monarch Butterfly, Danaus plexippus, birds, migration, signal transduction, researchblogging.org,peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper…
Great Air Migrations
Here are highlights of my favorite animals that migrate by air: Bugs: Monarch Butterflies: How in the world does this little insect travel so far?? These butterflies migrate very long distances to wintering grounds on the west coast of the United States or in Mexico. You must watch this video clip…

Welcome, Ted. Looking forward to seeing more of these remarkable images.

is there a causal link between HIV-1 infection and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency ? Does Z-A1AT (or other SERPINA1 gene mutations) cause AIDS in HIV-1 infected individuals, perhaps with the help of the HFE C282Y gene mutation (or other HFE gene mutations) ?

clear clean water! A day in rice and that phone is as good as new.(Now if that's a solution of NaOH or HCL, well then, that's a different story.

You want bad, have that cell phone drop into a privvy on the Appalachian Trail. 10 feet down into

clear clean water! A day in rice and that phone is as good as new.(Now if that's a solution of NaOH or HCL, well then, that's a different story.

You want bad, have that cell phone drop into a privvy on the Appalachian Trail. 10 feet down into

thanks..

clear clean water! A day in rice and that phone is as good as new.(Now if that's a solution of NaOH or HCL, well then, that's a different story.

HIV-1 enfeksiyonu ve alfa-1 antitripsin eksikliÄi arasında nedensel bir iliÅki vardır? Z-A1AT (veya diÄer SERPINA1 gen mutasyonları) HFE C282Y gen mutasyonu (veya diÄer HFE gen mutasyonlarının) yardımıyla, belki de HIV-1 ile enfekte kiÅilerde AIDS'e neden olur mu?