Clik here to view.
Monarch butterflies are up against multiple threats
A wide variety of factors, including herbicide use, climate change, and habitat loss, have caused the decline of monarch butterflies in North America, a new study shows. “We need to think of migratory...
View ArticleMilkweed in suburbs and cities could restore monarchs
Scientists say converting marginal cropland provides the best opportunity for adding milkweed to help restore the Eastern migratory monarch population. In addition, planting milkweed elsewhere,...
View ArticleWhy this flashy butterfly has red and yellow wings
Painted Jezebel butterflies use the distinctive red and yellow colors on their wings as warning signals to predators, report researchers. Red is a new and potentially more effective color to members of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why monarch butterfly estimates didn’t match
New research suggests that monarch butterflies’ moving away from farm fields once covered with milkweed explains a discrepancy between the decreasing population of the butterflies wintering in Mexico...
View ArticleJust 2 genes give butterfly wings their stripes and color
A pair of master genes control the complex traits in butterfly wings—one for colors and iridescence and the other for stripe patterns, two new papers suggest. “It seems like a small number of genes...
View ArticleClik here to view.
To test tricky butterflies, fool birds with 3,600 fakes
New research on butterflies aims to answer one of the biggest, most basic questions in biology: How do new species form? In the mid-1800s, an English naturalist and avid amateur entomologist named...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How butterflies get color patterns on their wing tops
Butterflies often display strikingly different color or patterns on the dorsal (top) and ventral (bottom) sides of their wings. A new study reveals the gene responsible for the dorsal side. Researchers...
View ArticleToo much CO2 robs milkweed of ‘medicine’ for monarchs
Mounting levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide lessen the medicinal properties of milkweed plants that protect monarch butterflies from disease, a new study shows. Milkweed leaves contain bitter toxins...
View ArticleTo predict midwest monarchs, check Texas weather
To better understand summer monarch butterfly populations in the Midwest, check the spring weather in Texas. This information is among the insights gleaned from a new model to forecast ecological...
View ArticleSome tropical butterflies are flower ‘specialists’
Most tropical butterflies feed from a variety of flower types, but those that are “picky” about their flowers tend to prefer native plants, new research shows. These selective butterflies also have...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Monarch butterflies are up against multiple threats
A wide variety of factors, including herbicide use, climate change, and habitat loss, have caused the decline of monarch butterflies in North America, a new study shows. “We need to think of migratory...
View ArticleMilkweed in suburbs and cities could restore monarchs
Scientists say converting marginal cropland provides the best opportunity for adding milkweed to help restore the Eastern migratory monarch population. In addition, planting milkweed elsewhere,...
View ArticleWhy this flashy butterfly has red and yellow wings
Painted Jezebel butterflies use the distinctive red and yellow colors on their wings as warning signals to predators, report researchers. Red is a new and potentially more effective color to members of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why monarch butterfly estimates didn’t match
New research suggests that monarch butterflies’ moving away from farm fields once covered with milkweed explains a discrepancy between the decreasing population of the butterflies wintering in Mexico...
View ArticleJust 2 genes give butterfly wings their stripes and color
A pair of master genes control the complex traits in butterfly wings—one for colors and iridescence and the other for stripe patterns, two new papers suggest. “It seems like a small number of genes...
View ArticleMigrating monarchs face new infection threat
Migrating monarchs may face increased exposure to disease at sites where other monarchs no longer migrate to Mexico and instead breed year-round on patches of an exotic garden plant. With migration...
View ArticleClik here to view.
CRISPR pinpoints gene that switches butterfly wing color
Scientists have used genome sequencing and CRISPR to home in on a single gene that controls wing color in butterflies. Heliconius butterflies are a diverse and colorful group of species that live...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sweet butterfly turns sour to avoid getting eaten
When they live apart from the unsavory bug they mimic, viceroy butterflies develop their own foul flavor, according to new research. The findings are making biologists rethink old theories about animal...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Mow your lawn to give monarchs a fighting chance
Mowing the grass at certain times of the year might help boost the monarch butterfly population. The findings of a new study, which appears in Biological Conservation, show that this kind of strategic...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Caterpillars take in haze and sustain damage
Haze affects the survival and development of butterflies, report biologists. The burning of regional peat forests to clear land for agriculture causes a large-scale air pollution issue called the...
View Article