Butterflies and other insects experience touch through hairs called tactile setae that grow in flexible sockets much like a ball and socket joint. Beneath the exoskeleton, each tactile setae is attached to a nerve cell which will relay information about the movement of the setae to the brain of the butterfly.Tactile setae can be found all over the body of the adult butterfly. The proboscis, legs, thorax, abdomen, head, and palpi are all covered in these tactile sensing hairs.
On the wings of an adult butterfly there are several groups of specialized setae and
nerves. These groups of setae help the butterfly to sense gravity, wind, changes in air pressure and the position of the wings. Other tactile setae detect the position of the butterfly’s head, legs, antennae and body.Seta (plural setae) is derived from the Latin for ‘bristle’.
2 comments:
interesting! is this one the Regal or Royal Walnut moth??!! someone i know found a dead one & saved it for me! i thought it looked like it was made of velvet!!
It is a closeup of an imperial moth (Eacles imperialis). They are in the wild silk moth family.
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