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by throwanem 1796 days ago
I wouldn't call it unnatural; a landing butterfly may well flap for extra lift, the same way a bird does, in order to make a precise and controlled landing. (Hence incidentally the name "flaps" for the trailing-edge extra lift devices that serve the same purpose, in the same regimes of flight, for a rigid-winged aircraft.)

The larger point still stands that butterflies don't hold their wings this way at rest, and it's true of hymenopterans as well; you often see specimen wasps mounted with all four wings fully spread, where the living animal at rest invariably holds the rear wings against the front such that only the latter are really visible. The only time this isn't the case is in flight or when the wings are otherwise in use (eg nest fanning on a hot day), but you need a very fast shutter to freeze that motion, and all you'll see with your bare eye is a blur.