Discover New Worlds
Construction of the Scales
Printable Version Chapter Contents On
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Looking at the details of the scales you can discover the most complicated structures.
They provide an optimum of stability with a minimum of material.
This is most impressive for the structures of the Hawkmoths’ scales. They are
loaded a lot because of the high frequency of the wing's movement.
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Parts of scales:
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Death’s Head Hawk (Acherontia atropos)
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| border of a scale | hair shaped scale (section) |
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The scales seem to consist of tiny pieces linked to each other.
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structures of scales:
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Garden Tiger (Arctia caja)
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Uraniidae
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The construction of butterflies' scales aroused the interest of researchers looking for a solution for the cooling of computer chips.(See "Learning from butterflies")
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This scale of a Death's Head Hawk seems to have membranes between the lamellas, unlike the Uraniidae scale (see above). Some membranes are damaged, probably because this dead moth was dried in the freezer.
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The great elasticity is also due to the scale’s staying, a joint.
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| Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines) | Oak Eggar (Lasiocampa quercus) |
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Shapes of Scales
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| border of a scale | hair shaped scale (section) |
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The scales seem to consist of tiny pieces linked to each other.
|
|
|
|
structures of scales:
|
|
Garden Tiger (Arctia caja)
|
|
|
|
Uraniidae
|
|
|
|
|
The construction of butterflies' scales aroused the interest of researchers looking for a solution for the cooling of computer chips.(See "Learning from butterflies")
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This scale of a Death's Head Hawk seems to have membranes between the lamellas, unlike the Uraniidae scale (see above). Some membranes are damaged, probably because this dead moth was dried in the freezer.
|
|
|
|
|
The great elasticity is also due to the scale’s staying, a joint.
|
|
|
| Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines) | Oak Eggar (Lasiocampa quercus) |
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Shapes of Scales
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