Nature Communications (Jan 2020)

Physical and behavioral adaptations to prevent overheating of the living wings of butterflies

  • Cheng-Chia Tsai,
  • Richard A. Childers,
  • Norman Nan Shi,
  • Crystal Ren,
  • Julianne N. Pelaez,
  • Gary D. Bernard,
  • Naomi E. Pierce,
  • Nanfang Yu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14408-8
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 14

Abstract

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Butterfly wings have low thermal capacity and thus are vulnerable to damage by overheating. Here, Tsai et al. take an interdisciplinary approach to reveal the organs, nanostructures and behaviors that enable butterflies to sense and regulate their wing temperature.