The Things Wings Do
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Monarch
butterfly
Photo by Ann B. Swengel |
Insect wings have many different shapes and colors. They also have different uses.
Most insects have two pairs of wings, with one pair behind the other. These wings are used for flying, of course. But wings can help an insect in other ways, too.
Flying
How fast can an insect fly? That depends on the
size and speed of the wings. Houseflies can go fast because
they have small wings that flap quickly.
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The
honeybee flies from flower to flower. It also uses
its wings to talk to other bees.
Photo by Chris Dietel |
The same is true for honeybees. A honeybee can flap its small wings 225 times each second, and it can fly fourteen miles an hour. That’s fast for an insect.
But butterflies drift from flower to flower. They flap their broad wings slowly. Sometimes they glide without flapping at all. These big wings could break if the butterfly flapped as hard as a bee does.
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Beetles
have hard front
wings that cover their backs. The wings help protect the insects. Photo by Chris Dietel |
Hard
Coverings
Wings are not just for flying. In fact, a beetle’s
front wings are not for flying at all. These two wings are
hard. When the beetle rests or walks, they cover its soft
body like two pieces of a nutshell. These wings help protect
the beetle from being eaten by birds.
When the beetle flies, it holds its front wings out to the sides. With these hard wings out of the way, the beetle can fly with its small back wings.
Colors
for Hiding
Some wings have colors and patterns that make the insect
hard to see. These
wings look like the places where the insect rests. When
the creature holds still, it doesn’t look like an insect.
It looks like a leaf or stone or piece of bark.
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This
moth’s
colors are hard
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Photos by Chris Dietel |
The colors help the insect hide from animals that might eat it. This kind of coloring is called camouflage.
Grasshoppers have camouflage. When they sit on plants, their wings look like the leaves around them.
Some moths have wings with camouflage that looks like tree bark. They can rest on trees without being found.
Bright
Colors
Some insects don’t hide at all. Instead, their wings
have bright colors that can be seen from far away.
Scientists say these wings have warning colors because the colors warn birds that the insects are not good to eat.
The wings of the monarch butterfly have warning colors of bright orange with black. A bird might eat one of these butterflies. But after the bad taste of that meal, the colors warn the bird not to eat another one.
Most
people think wings are just for flying. I like to tell them
about these amazing uses.
