
Vladimir Nabokov, Butterfly Illustrator (2016) - prismatic
https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/vladimir-nabokov-butterfly-illustrator
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starmole
Related: [http://emilydamstra.com/news/please-enough-dead-
butterflies/](http://emilydamstra.com/news/please-enough-dead-butterflies/)

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nerdponx
Can you explain why in these links the butterfly's wings look stretched
forward?

[https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFuckingLit/comments/8e0hj3/...](https://www.reddit.com/r/NatureIsFuckingLit/comments/8e0hj3/blue_morpho_butterfly/)

[https://i.redd.it/9pex6xq0egjy.jpg](https://i.redd.it/9pex6xq0egjy.jpg)

[http://www.greenuptown.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/02/Vicero...](http://www.greenuptown.com/wp-
content/uploads/2015/02/Viceroy-Butterfly.jpg)

Just a matter of degree?

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Baeocystin
They move their wings quite a bit relative to each other. Usually they do hold
them a bit further back, and she explained in her blog entry. But they are
capable of moving them far forward when they want. Sometimes the patterns are
strikingly different when they do so.

It is most noticeable in a swarm, where little flashes of different color wind
up catching your eye against the background of the more general form. Almost
like the flashes of silver you sometimes see in an active school of sardines
or the like. And who knows? Maybe even for the same reason, as a response to
similar environmental pressures!

