Why Do Moths Have Powdery Wings

Even when touching the wings you will get them all over your fingers and they appear as colored dustmy guess is that you rubs off the scales and crushed it well.

Why do moths have powdery wings. Again im not sure why but since the antennae are what moths and butterflies use to smell with this was the topic of another recent question it suggests that moths use their sense of smell more than butterflies do so they have a more developed nose. Moth description moths often have feather like antennae with. But there is also a defensive reason. Some butterflies and moths have their eyespots hidden on their hindwings and will flash predators a startling glimpse of them.

If you touch the wings with finger the powder is rubbed off leaving the wing more or less transparent and colorless. Why would moths have scales on the device that they primarily use to fly. Alessandro giusti curator of lepidoptera at the museum says many species eyespots have an interesting series of circles and in the middle there is a white part which almost mimics an eye reflecting light. Butterflies and moths wings are composed of tiny little scales.

The scales are pigmented but they also contribute to the pattern on the wings by diffracting light through a complex microscopic structure of ribs and holes. This dust is actually tiny scales that serve multiple functions for the moth. Moths are insect closely related to butterflies. The ones on the wings of moths and butterflies have been modified over the course of evolution into a scalelike shape and may have a powdery appearance when they are rubbed off.

The powder on the wings of moths and butterflies is really a layer of any colored scales which overlap each other almost like the tiles on a roof. The powder is actually tiny scales made from modified hairs. Scientists have identified some 200000 species of moths world wide and suspect there may be as many as five times that amount. With regards to flight the scales since theyre an addition to the wings provide extra lift since air is trapped in between the wing and scales.

Dust from his wings. Moths also usually have antennae that are more feathery than those of butterflies. The scales have at least four functions not necessarily on the same butterfly species. Moths like butterflies belong to the order lepidoptera which means scale wing.

The scales provide multiple uses including assistance to flight. Both belong to the order lepidoptera. The differences between butterflies and moths is more than just taxonomy. The dust on butterfly and moth wings are modified hairs called scales.