Description
These vibrant butterflies can be found in Central America. Many morpho butterflies are colored in metallic, shimmering shades of blues and greens. These colors are not a result of pigmentation, but are an example of iridescence through structural coloration. Specifically, the microscopic scales covering the morpho’s wings reflect incident light repeatedly at successive layers, leading to interference effects that depend on both wavelength and angle of incidence/observance. Thus, the colors appear to vary with viewing angle, but they are surprisingly uniform, perhaps due to the tetrahedral (diamond-like) structural arrangement of the scales or diffraction from overlying cell layers. Their lifespan lasts for about 115 days (from egg to death). The adults live for about two to three weeks. They feed on the fluids of fermenting fruit, decomposing animals, tree sap, fungi, and nutrient-rich mud. They are poisonous to predators due to toxins they sequestered from plants on which they fed as caterpillars. Click here for more information about this beautiful specimens.
Frame measures approx 8″ tall x 7″ wide and comes ready to hang.
