They have a wing span of nearly 18 cm (7 inches). Adult males display an iridescent blue color on the upper wing surface. The underside of the wings resembles foliage, with mottled brown, grays, blacks, and reds. The female is less vivid that the male. The male's bright color is designed to intimidate any rivals that might fly into his territory. The males wings reflect the bright, iridescent color over an extremely wide angle, to maximize its visibility in the rainforest. The Morpho's coloring is a built in defense mechanism. These butterflies are diurnally active and have the capability of "crypis". That is, when they sleep at night, they fold their wings so that only the dark underside is seen, making them less visible to predators. It also has a "flashing" defense mechanism. That is, due to the slow beating pace of their wings the iridescent blue is flashed and then disappears as the wings are raised only to return in another place in a short while. This causes predators to loose track of the Morpho when it is flying as they only glimpse blue flashes as the brown underside makes them invisible in the thick foliage of the jungle.
The Morpho butterfly passes through four distinct phases of metamorphoses. The pale green eggs resemble dewdrops. The caterpillar is red-brown with bright patches of lime-green on it's back and has stinging hairs. These caterpillars are highly cannibalistic.
The Morpho has intrigued man for generations with it's optical engineering. Today, its dazzling iridescent wings are giving rise to a market to try to mimic its wonder and create a counterfeit proof currency and charge cards. This butterfly may become world famous as it's power with light changes the face of money.
Jessica Crank, Teresa Ford & Gillian Pressley
ENT 301; Fall 2000
