Iridescent Butterfly Wing Scale @ 60x

Images made through a microscope. All subject types.

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colinbm
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Iridescent Butterfly Wing Scale @ 60x

Post by colinbm »

Iridescent Butterfly Wing Scale @ 60x magnification with dual lighting.
I used an internal Co-Axial & external Ring Lights to illuminate the Butterfly wing scales, both lights 6000k.
This is showing the refacted light at the ridges & ribs & from lower internally.
2023-05-08-01.04.14 ZS PMax_v1-SharpenAI-Focus label web.jpg

Lou Jost
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Re: Iridescent Butterfly Wing Scale @ 60x

Post by Lou Jost »

Really nice, interesting light.

rjlittlefield
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Re: Iridescent Butterfly Wing Scale @ 60x

Post by rjlittlefield »

This is very interesting, in part because I am puzzled by the shape of the scales.

It looks like the ends of many of them are sharply bent, in a way that I have never seen before.

Are these trapped under a coverslip or something like that, or is the bending natural, or is something else going on?

--Rik

colinbm
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Re: Iridescent Butterfly Wing Scale @ 60x

Post by colinbm »

Thanks Lou
I think I am going to like this dual lighting.

colinbm
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Re: Iridescent Butterfly Wing Scale @ 60x

Post by colinbm »

Thanks Rik
The Madagascar Sunset Moth has similiar curved down scales too.
It is taken in the open with no coverglass.
I am all very new to this & I have only looked closely to a few butterflys, but it does seem to be different to the normally flat scales.
This wing is from an unknown butterfly from a collection of random broken wings.
This is one I have done of the Madagascar Sunset Moth.
2023-04-29-04.12.03 ZS DMap_Ninja-Sharpen label web.jpg

rjlittlefield
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Re: Iridescent Butterfly Wing Scale @ 60x

Post by rjlittlefield »

colinbm wrote:
Mon May 08, 2023 4:42 am
The Madagascar Sunset Moth has similiar curved down scales too.
It is taken in the open with no coverglass.
I am very familiar with Madagascar Sunset Moth, but to my eyes the green butterfly scales look much different shape.

The difference is that the Sunset Moth scales are curved smoothly with no sudden corners, where several of the green butterfly scales have ends that look suddenly different from the rest of the scale, like they are bent down. I have marked some examples here:
2023-05-08_13-24-21.jpg
But the appearance may be misleading. Perhaps the sudden changes in apparent curvature are caused by unusual lighting interacting with smoothly curved scales.

--Rik

Lou Jost
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Re: Iridescent Butterfly Wing Scale @ 60x

Post by Lou Jost »

I think the photo is showing real curvature, and the bent edges are evolved mechanisms to change the overall color effect of the wing.

rjlittlefield
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Re: Iridescent Butterfly Wing Scale @ 60x

Post by rjlittlefield »

Lou Jost wrote:
Mon May 08, 2023 1:31 pm
I think the photo is showing real curvature, and the bent edges are evolved mechanisms to change the overall color effect of the wing.
Have you seen similar bent edges in other photos?

--Rik

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Re: Iridescent Butterfly Wing Scale @ 60x

Post by Lou Jost »

No Rik, I base my opinion on the regularity and uniformity of the bends in the picture.

rjlittlefield
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Re: Iridescent Butterfly Wing Scale @ 60x

Post by rjlittlefield »

rjlittlefield wrote:
Mon May 08, 2023 1:36 pm
Lou Jost wrote:
Mon May 08, 2023 1:31 pm
I think the photo is showing real curvature, and the bent edges are evolved mechanisms to change the overall color effect of the wing.
Have you seen similar bent edges in other photos?

--Rik
Lou Jost wrote:
Mon May 08, 2023 9:10 pm
No Rik, I base my opinion on the regularity and uniformity of the bends in the picture.
Interestingly, I see a lack of regularity and uniformity in the photo that started this discussion. That's the reason I wrote "several of the green butterfly scales...", in distinction to all of them.

However, colinbm has now posted a second photo, HERE, that does show a high level of regularity and uniformity. Even to my skeptical eye, it seems to have every scale in place, no sign of disruption, and every scale showing the same bend at the same place. So yep, I now agree that the sharp bend looks like a natural structure.

--Rik

Lou Jost
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Re: Iridescent Butterfly Wing Scale @ 60x

Post by Lou Jost »

Interestingly, I see a lack of regularity and uniformity in the photo that started this discussion. That's the reason I wrote "several of the green butterfly scales...", in distinction to all of them.
To me it was too regular to be unnatural, given the variety of orientations of the scales.

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