Swallowtail

The exquisite wing pattern of the swallowtail butterfly charms all who admire its beauty. This wing pattern also plays a vital role when males search for a mate. The Asian swallowtail butterfly can be attracted by readying a piece of paper with alternate black and yellow lines and holding it up at the edge of the forest. The closer the line widths and paper size the more it resembles an actual female butterfly, and easier it becomes to attract males. The Asian swallowtail butterfly searches for females visually. However, the butterfly's sense of vision isn't exactly all that well developed. The males use their front legs to tap other butterflies and determine whether the black and yellow stripes are indeed those of an appropriate female. The information transferred by touch is thought to be a kind of taste. The taste sensor possessed by swallowtail butterflies. This sensor exhibits phenomenal capabilities when the female looks for a plant to lay her eggs. The Asian swallowtail butterfly only lays eggs in plants with a blend of 10 specific substances. By limiting the egg laying plants used by each species, the swallowtail butterfly has diversely evolved and sought to coexist. While the swallowtail butterfly's taste sensor is presently being analyzed on a genetic level, one question still remains. Taste requires information from direct contact. So, how is it that the swallowtail butterfly knows that the plant is there in the first place? The key is thought to be smell. However, this mechanism is not yet understood. It is believed that the swallowtail butterfly's sense of smell is the same as a moth's, it requires touch. At the same time, recent studies have revealed that there is a light sensor related to reproduction in the swallowtail butterfly's abdomen. It is quite conceivable that the smell sensors used to locate plants are hidden somewhere else in the butterfly's body. While being a different species to the swallowtail butterfly, the front feet of brush-footed butterflies are specialized smell sensors that achieve phenomenal sensor capabilities. According to one observational experiment, it is said that they even react to the pheromone released by females several kilometers away. Brush-footed butterflies appear to have only 4 legs, as their front legs, which are specialized smell sensors, are folded up against their body. Is the smell sensor of the brush-footed butterfly family an extension of that possessed by the swallowtail butterfly family? Solving this puzzle will one day surely lead to the full understanding of butterfly evolution which is still greatly shrouded in mystery. Humans do not have such refined sensors with which to measure the natural world. However, humankind posses the power of analysis, one that goes beyond our natural limitations. The protection of this diverse and beautiful earth through the analysis of nature is a mission that has been entrusted to humankind.