The Glasswinged butterfly is a brush-footed butterfly, and is a member of the subfamily Danainae, tribe Ithomiini, subtribe Godyridina.
The wings are transparent, with a span of 5.6 to 6.1 cm. The butterfly's most common English name is glasswinged butterfly and its Spanish name is mariposa de cristal, which means "crystal butterfly". The tissue between the veins of its wings looks like glass, as it lacks the colored scales found in other butterflies.The opaque borders of its wings are dark brown, sometimes tinted with red or orange, and its body is dark in color.
The reason that their wings are transparent is because they barely reflect any light. A wide spectrum of light—from infrared to visible to ultraviolet—travels straight through the wing tissue.
The property of the wing tissue that produces the butterfly’s transparency seems to go against nature’s instinct. The nanostructures on the surface of the butterfly’s wings are completely random.
Paper:http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms7909
Info:http://mudfooted.com/beautiful-glasswinged-butterfly/
http://www.arkinspace.com/2011/07/incredible-glasswing-butterfly.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_oto
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