What gives butterfly wings their amazing colors?
Butterfly wings are covered in many tiny scales that overlap like shingles on a roof. Scales come in many different shapes and have been used to classify butterflies in the past. The different colors are either produced by the pigments contained in the caterpillar’s diet or by the structure of the scale itself. Colors like red are created by pigment, whereas iridescence and colors like blues and greens are produced by unique scale shapes that refract light. If you touch a butterfly’s wings you’ll notice that the scales rub off very easily, like a fine powder.
