The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, MA, takes a bold educational approach to scientific discovery that attracts some of the most talented students and researchers from around the world. An avid butterfly collector, MBL Director Nipam Patel invited students to study various butterflies with see-through wings, often called Glasswing Butterflies, to learn how they create this transparency as they develop from the pupal stage to adulthood. The team, using ZEISS SEM and ZEISS CONFOCAL microscopy, observed lower scale density in the transparent wing areas and nanostructures that reduce glare. These insights shed light on how these butterflies evade predators, and may impact future advances in optics, solar panels and more.

Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of the transparent wing region of a Golden Clearwing butterfly (Godyris duillia). Instead of large scales tiling over the entire wing surface, the scales have been modified into slender bristles, which allow light to pass through the wing. Wing transparency provides an ideal camouflage mechanism for many species of butterflies and moths. (Credit: Jaap van Krugten, Patel Lab at UC Berkeley, and Nipam Patel)

Helium Ion Microscope (ZEISS HIM) image of a wing scale from the Buckeye butterfly (Junonia coenia). In blue are the ribs and ridges that cover the scale surface, and in red is the bottom layer, known as a lamina, that creates the structural blue color of these particular scales. (Credit: Rachel Thayer, Patel Lab at UC Berkeley, and Nipam Patel)

The pupal wing of the Glasswing butterfly, showing cell nuclei (blue), the developing scale surface membrane (magenta) and the internal actin cytoskeleton (green). At this stage, the straight bristle scales have grown quite long while the scales that will form forked bristles look like small triangles. Both contain straight rods of actin. Their reduced size allows light to pass through the wing, appearing transparent. (Credit: Aaron Pomerantz, UC Berkeley and Nipam Patel)

Confocal image (ZEISS LSM 700) of an adult wing of the Emerald Swallowtail (Papilio palinurus). The scales tile the surface of the wing – the dimpled scales create a structural green color, while the remaining thin, flat scales are black from melanin pigment. (Credit: Ryan Null, Patel Lab at UC Berkeley, and Nipam Patel)

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