True Facts: The Crazy Defenses of Butterflies and Moths | Ze Frank
A glasswing butterfly at a flower. Credit: Nipam Patel
This cheeky, funny mini-doc on "The Crazy Defenses of Moths and Butterflies" is actually based on real science. Among those contributing expertise behind the scenes were MBL Director Nipam Patel and members of his lab, including Rachel Thayer, Aaron Pomerantz, and Damien Gailly. A list of the resources they provided is below.
Resources:
Video:
Research articles:
Thayer, R. C., & Patel, N. H. (2023). A meta-analysis of butterfly structural colors : their color range , distribution and biological production. J Exp Biol., DOI: 10.1242/jeb.245940
Thayer, R. C., Allen, F. I., & Patel, N. H. (2020). Structural color in Junonia butterflies evolves by tuning scale lamina thickness. eLife, DOI: 10.7554/eLife.52187
Dinwiddie, A. et al. (2014) Dynamics of F-actin prefigure the structure of butterfly wing scales.
Developmental Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2014.06.005.