Butterflies' special place in human culture stems from the fact that they have used their wings not only for flight, but as a canvas for some of the most striking patterns in nature. Evolving from an ancestral moth-like insect ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 26, 2016
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New research on butterfly genomes has revealed that the genetic components that produce different splotches of colour on wings can be mixed up between species by interbreeding to create new patterns, like a "genetic paint-box".
Plants & Animals
Jan 15, 2016
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In the natural world, mimicry isn't entertainment; it's a deadly serious game spanning a range of senses - sight, smell and hearing. Some of the most striking visual mimics are butterflies. Many butterflies become noxious ...
Evolution
Nov 5, 2015
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Bright colours appear on a fruit fly's transparent wings against a dark background as a result of light refraction. Researchers from Lund University in Sweden have now demonstrated that females choose a mate based on the ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 22, 2014
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New research on the Museum's Lepidoptera collection has shed light on how some butterflies pretend to be lethal.
Plants & Animals
Jul 15, 2014
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(Phys.org) —As a graduate student, Heather Hines followed bumblebees all over the world. She was part of a successful effort to track the history of bumblebee evolution, painstakingly constructing from genetic and geographic ...
Plants & Animals
May 15, 2014
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Butterflies are probably best-loved insects. As such, they are relatively well studied, especially in the United States. Eastern parts of the country are explored most thoroughly. First eastern US butterfly species were described ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 19, 2014
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Everyone knows all about the epic breeding journey taken each year by generations of monarch butterflies between Mexico and Canada, right? Not so fast, say researchers including University of Guelph biologists.
Plants & Animals
Aug 7, 2013
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A new butterfly species from Texas, given the common name Vicroy's Ministreak, was discovered because of its striking olive green eye color, and was given a formal scientific name (Ministrymon janevicroy). This beautiful ...
Plants & Animals
May 28, 2013
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Researchers have discovered a social chromosome in the highly invasive fire ant that helps to explain why some colonies allow for more than one queen ant, and could offer new solutions for dealing with this pest.
Biotechnology
Jan 16, 2013
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