These butterflies look the same, but DNA uncovered six hidden species

 



The team includes experts at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Universidad Regional Amazónica Ikiam in Ecuador, Universidade Estadual de Campinas in Brazil, the University of Cambridge, and others.

The research, published on July 28 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), starts to uncover new insights about these butterflies as well as factors involved in the rapid diversification of species and why some species are more capable of this. The findings help experts to understand more about how has life evolved until now and possibly suggest how it might change in the future.

For example, researchers found that in glasswing butterflies, even the most closely related species produce different pheromones, indicating that they can smell others of the same species. Given that all of these butterflies look the same to teach birds that they are all toxic, this allows the butterflies to find a compatible mate.

By untangling the taxonomy of these butterflies, the team provides answers to questions that have remained unknown for at least 150 years. The researchers also present ten freely available reference genomes that can help to monitor and maintain insect populations in some of the most biodiverse areas of the world.

Butterflies are used in conservation as an indicator species, meaning they are used to track and monitor the levels of biodiversity and other insects in an area.

Glasswing (Ithomiine) butterflies are found across Central and South America and make up a substantial part of the butterfly species found there, making them good indicators of biodiversity in incredibly biodiverse areas, like the Amazon rainforest.

However, there are over 400 species of glasswing butterfly, and all species in an area look incredibly similar to discourage birds from eating them, with coloring that implies they are toxic.

Additionally, glasswing butterflies can undergo rapid radiation, where many new species arise from the same ancestor in a short period of time. As they are very closely related, it makes it difficult to visually identify and track the different species of butterflies.

#DNA
#Genetics
#DNAScience
#Genomics
#DNAResearch
#MolecularBiology
#DNASequencing
#GeneticEngineering
#CRISPR
#HumanGenome

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