What's wrong with this TC?

[horace2264]

I took this mating pair of TC the other day, and have been wondering about what is wrong with the forewing of the TC (male?) below?
Does anyone have any possible reason for the seemingly deformed wing?

[Commander]

In the case of this specimen, the deformation is very negligible, and the butterfly can still fly around.

Very often, something goes wrong during the process of eclosion, and the wings are either deformed or damaged. As in all natural processes, things can go wrong, and the butterfly is permanently crippled. In some situations, it becomes prey for a nearby predator the moment it ecloses.

If you've ever seen a butterfly come out from the pupa, the first 30secs is very important as it has to get its crumpled (but soft) wings out of the way of any obstructions. It then hangs the wings out to "dry" as it pumps fluids into the veins to expand the wings. If the wings are obstructed in any way, the wings cannot expand fully and dries in that deformed state.

[horace2264]

Thank you Khew for the illuminating insight on the eclosion (a new word for me) process, and possible cause of the deformed wing shown in the picture. It is a good thing that the deformed wing is not due to a mutated gene, otherwise this feature might pass down to the descendents of this mating adult.

Horace