A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Ypthima baldus
Check out this aberration on the wing of this butterfly.. Experts please give your comments.. What may be the reason for this aberration???
Spotted on Mar 30, 2013
Submitted on Mar 30, 2013
10 Comments
So what happened to the antenna.
Yours does look like a deformity caused by a problem with emergence. I guess it was stuck too long in the pupal case. An aberration is a variation but usually referring to genetic causes. Here is my example http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/103...
There is no scales in that circled area!!!
During emerging, the wing might be not properly dried or fall from the perching place with wet wings may be the reason for deformity...
it probably had a problem when emerging from the cocoon
It probably happened while escaping from a predator,considering the fact that an antenna is also missing..
Jolly I collected this specimen because of this condition only (collected on 30/iii/2013), so there is no chance of poor storage.
Yes, KarenL, antenna was missing when I collect the specimen.
Looks for me like a simple malformation. Let's remember that this happens all the time in animals and plants. Wings are not essentially for "just living" (like the moving caterpillar after being parasitized by wasps), so this might just have a "normal" butterfly life. If more important organs are involved we probably would not see such an animal because it dies at an earlier stage.
The aberration could also be caused by poor storage of the preserved specimen.
Very interesting. It looks like the scales have all been rubbed off. Is is also missing an antenna?