Butterfly Experiment

[LenaMiller]

I am conducting an experiment on what the effect of different colors of artificial light on the amount of time a butterfly will spend in its chrysalis. I used purple, blue, white and yellow light. I would like to know how/why light rays effect a butterflies metamorphosis!

[CarissaP]

Hello,
This is a fascinating experiment! Different colors of light do affect the amount of time a butterfly spends in its chrysalis, and this is because butterflies are more sensitive to the color of light. Compared to our three types (red, green, and blue) of photoreceptors, which are specialized light-detecting neurons in the back of our eyes, butterflies can have up to 15 different types. These extra photoreceptors are more sensitive to shorter wavelengths, which allows butterflies to see UV light but also makes them more sensitive to blue and purple light. So, they might develop faster when exposed to these colors instead of other colors of light. If you would like to read further, this paper looks at the effect of light pollution on a specific butterfly's development rate: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12817312/.
Have fun experimenting!