More Butterfly Colors than You Can See

Psalm 27:4

“One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek; That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple.”

The beautiful wing of the butterfly has a lesson to teach everyone who believes living things were created by chance. The design of the butterfly wing involves much more than just intricate complexity. In addition to showing a knowledge of flight, each wing design is the product of very precise specifications built around the specific wave‑lengths of visible light.

The iridescent colors you admire on a butterfly’s wing are created by the scales of the wings. Each square centimeter of wing has tens of thousands of these scales, each attached to the wing by tiny stems and overlapping each other like cedar shakes. Each one of these scales was a living cell until a day or two before the butterfly emerged from its pupa. Each tiny scale is made of a vertical and horizontal framing within which are found various sacks of pigment hanging from the framework.

Butterfly wings that seem to glow with iridescent blues and greens have scales with tiny lattices and ribbed walls that are designed to cause interference patterns in light waves within the 300‑700 nanometer range—exactly the range humans see as color. That interference pattern is what our eyes interpret as iridescence.

It takes a good knowledge of physics as well as micro‑architecture to design and build an iridescent butterfly wing! Science clearly teaches us that such ability and knowledge does not come from chance. Let’s be bold to admit the truth—there is a Creator!

Prayer: Dear Father in heaven; a child can see the beauty of Your handiwork in the wing of the butterfly. Through my witness, help those who have been fooled by evolution to see You in Your creation and our salvation in our Savior Jesus Christ. In His Name. Amen.

Author: Paul A. Bartz

Photo: Close up of butterfly wing. (Pixabay.com)