Fossil Moth Still Shows Its Colors | The Institute for Creation Research

Fossil Moth Still Shows Its Colors

Many butterflies and moths have colors that show a metallic sheen. That sheen occurs because the refracting material in their wings and bodies is spread out in layers precisely as thin as the wavelengths of the light they refract.

Researchers recently found these delicate structures in moth fossils from Germany that are supposedly 47 million years old. But how could something that delicate last that long?

The authors of the study, which appeared in the online journal PLoS Biology, reported that the nanostructure of the tiny moth wing scales was still in very good condition, enabling the researchers to reconstruct their metallic coloration.

The report included electron micrographs of "bead-like spacers" less than one millionth of a meter in size. These spacers specify the tiny distances required to refract light. The "multilayer reflector" was still intact, almost like the moths were alive yesterday.1

 

But who would expect that such detailed structures—so fine that researcher need an electron microscope to see them—persisted for a million years? If rock and soil covered the fossils over that length of time, then these delicate moth scale structures should have flattened long ago. However, if there wasn't much rock or soil on top of them, then oxygen gas would have reached them more easily and oxidized the scales, obliterating all their structure.

And the study authors examined original, not mineralized, biochemical constituents of the scales. They wrote:

Electron dispersive X-ray analyses demonstrate that the fossil scales are organically preserved: they comprise predominantly carbon and there is no evidence for replacement of the preserved tissue by authigenic [formed where found] minerals.1

Either flattened from pressure or obliterated by chemical reactions, the delicate and tiny moth wing fossil structures should be long gone if they are as old as the researchers claim. However, since they are still here and still identifiable, it makes more sense to say that they are only thousands of years old.

Reference

  1. McNamara, M. E. et al. 2011. Fossilized Biophotonic Nanostructures Reveal the Original Colors of 47-Million-Year-Old Moths. PLoS Biology. 9 (11): e1001200.

Image credit: Copyright © 2011 McNamara et al, PLoS Biology 9 (11): e1001200 (open access article, usage does not imply endorsement).

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.

Article posted on January 5, 2012.

The Latest
CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Beauty for Beauty's Sake! | Creation.Live Podcast: Episode 17
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? Or is beauty an objective standard? Where do our ideas of beauty even come from?   Hosts...

NEWS
Fire Sensory Capabilities of the Venus Flytrap
Fascinating discoveries have been made regarding the amazing Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula).1 For example, all parts of this amazing plant...

CREATION PODCAST
What Really Swallowed Jonah? | The Creation Podcast: Episode...
The book of Jonah contains the historical account of the prophet Jonah. In verse 17 of chapter 1, the text states that the Lord prepared a great...

NEWS
More Flood Evidence
Paleontologists recently discovered the partial fossils of two new species of dinosaur just outside of Casablanca. As stated in a Science Direct article,...

NEWS
New York Times Editorial: Big Bang Unraveling?
Two physicists have suggested in a recent New York Times guest editorial that Big Bang cosmology ‘may be starting to unravel.’1...

NEWS
Your Functional ''Yolk Sac''
For decades, evolutionists pointed to dozens of ‘useless artifacts’ of the human body to make their questionable case for evolution. But...

NEWS
The Beauty of Creation: Created for God’s Own Glory
Have you ever wondered why a sunset on a beach is captivating, snowcapped mountains are breathtaking, and a valley filled with wildflowers is enchanting? Scripture,...

CREATION PODCAST
Devastating, Dangerous, and Deadly Bacteria? | The Creation Podcast:...
Bacteria are everywhere! While we can't see them with the naked eye, these little critters are everywhere, even in and on your body! Some of...

NEWS
Pre-Flood Reptile Fossil Discovered With Baleen
Baleen whales (suborder Mysticeti) are amazing filter-feeding mammals of the sea. They belong to a group called the Cetacea. Evolutionists suggest they...

NEWS
September 2023 ICR Wallpaper
"If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and...