Butterflies’ tidy drinking tricks

The long tube of the insects' mouthparts is fluid friendly only at the tip

SIPPY WHEN WET The magnified tip of a Limenitis archippus butterfly mouthpart shows bowling-pin-shaped sensory structures that help the insect sip.

Matthew S. Lehnert and Catherine P. Mulvane

Butterflies can keep their proboscises clean despite sipping from pollen-dusted flowers, roadside puddles, carrion or dung.