A beautiful Glasswinged butterfly showing off its amazing wings. Photo by David Tiller.
Glasswinged butterflies (Greta oto) are an amazing looking species of butterfly primarly found in Central America. The glasswing is so named because of its stunning wings that are almost completely transparent! A feature that is relatively rare in the order of butterflies. Although most other butterflies ward off predators with the colored scales that pattern their wings, this butterfly species has evolved transparent wings to hide itself from predators rather than to warn them off.
A beautiful picture of the glasswinged butterfly on a bird of paradise plant. Photo by Farrukh.
Despite the appearance of their delicate wings, they are surprisingly strong and enable the glasswings to go on long migratory flights whereby they travel up to 12 miles a day. Interestingly, to find a mate, males congregate in the shady corners of the rainforest understory, their prime habitat, and give off pheromones to attract females in a competitive setting (also known as lekking). The pheromones are constructed from the chemicals they derive by feeding of certain toxic flowers, making the glasswing taste unpleasant enough to discourage predators from eating it.
A glasswinged buttefly spreading out its wings.
A glasswinged butterfly starting to roll out its long proboscis. Photo by Sandy__R.
The wings of Glasswinged butterflies are almost completely transparent. Photo by Farrukh.
The post The beautiful Glasswinged butterfly appeared first on Mudfooted.com by Jolle Jolles.
