This repository contains the raw data for: JF Totz, AD McDougal, L Wagner, S Kang, PTC So, J Dunkel, BD Wilts, and M Kolle, Cell membrane buckling governs early-stage ridge formation in butterfly wing scales, (forthcoming). The raw data is of a volumetric time series of scales growing on the wing of an individual Vanessa cardui pupa, collected with quantitative phase imaging. Additional details may be found in the Materials and Methods, as well as the SI, of the above publication. The companion code repository may be found on Zenodo: JF Totz, AD McDougal, L Wagner, S Kang, PTC So, J Dunkel, BD Wilts, and M Kolle. (Forthcoming). "Cell membrane buckling governs early-stage ridge formation in butterfly wing scales:code" (v1.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8369163 Note that file A-40-01_11_04_34_set_115.mat was previously released in: AD McDougal, S Kang, Z Yaqoob, PTC So, and M Kolle, Data and analysis codes for “In vivo visualization of butterfly scale cell morphogenesis in Vanessa cardui.” Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5532941. We include it here for completeness of this time series.