Stephen W. Paddock - Digital Image Gallery
Butterfly Wing Scales (Phalloidin)
Presented in the digital image below is a whole mount of the wing epithelium from a pupal butterfly, labeled with phalloidin. Note the fluorescently-stained wing scales, which emit a green fluorescence when excited by light from the microscope illuminator.
Mimicry is a fascinating adaptive mechanism wherein one organism takes on the physical characteristics of another organism for the purpose of confusing predators. In Mullerian mimicry, the mimic is as equally defended as the model. For example, the queen butterfly has a colorful similarity to the monarch. Both of these butterfly species are foul tasting, but the monarch is also poisonous to predators. In Batesian mimicry, the mimic is not as well defended as the model. An example of this is the viceroy butterfly, another mimic of the monarch. In this instance, however, the viceroy is neither foul tasting nor poisonous, so it is not as equally defended from predators.
