Can butterflies lose their ability to fly if I rub the dust from their wings?

The story that butterflies lose their ability to fly, if you rub the dust off their wings, is very common, but not true. The fine dust of the wings is really small, coloured scales that provide butterflies with their beautiful patterns and colours. The scales have no influence on a butterfly's flying capacity. Butterflies often become "shabby" and develop "bald" spots on their wings at the end of the season. In Australia, you can observe that most butterfly species lose some of their dust and look shabby in late summer and early autumn.

Butterflies can easily fly without the small scales on their wings.