Morpho
| Morpho butterflies | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Morpho didius – Museum specimen | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nymphalidae |
| Subfamily: | Morphinae |
| Tribe: | Morphini |
| Genus: |
Morpho Fabricius, 1807 |
| Type species | |
|
Morpho achilles Linnaeus, 1758 |
|
| Species | |
|
see text |
|
| Diversity | |
| c.29 species and 150 subspecies | |
| Synonyms | |
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|
see text
A morpho butterfly is one of over 29 accepted species and 147 accepted subspecies of butterflies in the genus Morpho. They are neotropical butterflies found mostly in South America, Mexico, and Central America. Morphos range in wingspan from the 7.5-cm (3-in) M. rhodopteron to the imposing 20-cm (8-in) sunset morpho, M. hecuba. The name morpho, meaning changed or modified, is also an epithet of Aphrodite and Venus.
This list is arranged alphabetically within species groups.
Subgenus Iphimedeia
Subgenus Iphixibia
Subgenus Cytheritis
Subgenus Balachowskyna
Subgenus Cypritis
Subgenus Pessonia
Subgenus Crasseia
Subgenus Morpho
Ungrouped:
Many names attach to the genus Morpho. The genus has also been divided into subgenera. Hundreds of form, variety, and aberration names are used among morpho species and subspecies. One lepidopterist includes all such species within a single genus, and synonymized many names in a limited number of species. Two other lepidopterists use a phylogenetic analysis with different nomenclature. Other authorities accept many more species.
The genus name Morpho comes from an Ancient Greek epithet μορφώ, roughly "the shapely one", for Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty.
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 actually surprisingly uniform, perhaps due to the tetrahedral (diamond-like) structural arrangement of the scales or diffraction from overlying cell layers. The wide-angle blue reflection property can be explained by exploring the nanostructures in the scales of the morpho butterfly wings. These optically active structures integrate three design principles leading to the wide-angle reflection: alternative lamellae layers, Christmas tree-like shape, and zigzag pattern of the ridges. The reflection spectrum is found to be broad (about 90 nm) for alternating layers and can be controlled by varying the design pattern. The Christmas tree-like pattern helps to reduce the directionality of the reflectance by creating an impedance matching for blue wavelengths. In addition, the zigzag pattern of ridges destroys the unwanted interference for other wavelengths in wide angle. This structure may be likened to a photonic crystal. The lamellate structure of their wing scales has been studied as a model in the development of biomimetic fabrics, dye-free paints, and anticounterfeit technology used in currency.
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Wikipedia