Educational Science

Caterpillars Morph into Butterflies in Amazing 3D Images

Stunning new pictures of butterfly metamorphosis have been captured using common medical imaging. The images of the tiny insects, which are described today (May 14) in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, were taken with a CT scanner that has the resolution to image insects as small as 0.2...

Climate Warming Helps British Butterfly Spread

Warming in Great Britain appears to have given a little brown and orange butterfly an edge. The brown argus butterfly has spread about 49 miles (79 kilometers) northward on the island over 20 years, observations indicate. Although it's well known that climate change can prompt plants and animals to shift...

As climate changes, some butterflies take to the forests to shade themselves from the heat, new research suggests. However, not a large enough number of butterflies are making the move to save their populations, the researchers also found. A lot of the butterflies we were looking at are threatened by...

Image Gallery: Butterfly Metamorphosis in 3D

Painted Lady (Image credit: MarkMirror | Shutterstock.com)In a May 2013 paper, researchers at the University of Manchester revealed stunning 3D images of the metamorphosis of the painted lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui. CT Scanning (Image credit: Tristan Lowe)The team used CT scanning to capture the tiny anatomy of the pupa on...

Passion for Butterflies Becomes A Study in Climate Change Impact

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. Arthur Shapiro has been collecting butterfly data for more than 40 years, and despite the high altitudes, rigorous walks and often uncooperative weather, he’s still going strong, exploring mountains across central California, pen and...

Butterflies Reveal Biodiversity at Guantanamo

Researchers from the Florida Museum of Natural History have documented 51 different butterfly species at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, showing that the area is an inadvertent wildlife refuge and biodiversity hotspot. The base, which covers about 45 square miles (120 square kilometers) in the southeast corner of...

Cold Snaps Trigger Monarch Butterfly Migrations

Editor's note: This story was updated to correct a direction the monarchs fly and when the were and were not exposed to cold in a controlled environment. Cold weather in the Mexico mountaintops, where monarchs spend the winter, triggers the butterflies' migration northward, according to new research. The finding raises...

Wild Butterflies Crossbreed to Share Colors & Survive

The flashy wing colors of butterflies are spread through species crossbreeding, as are genes devoted to smell and taste, a new genetic analysis of butterflies of the genus Heliconius suggests. The crossbred butterflies seem to survive better in the wild. What we show is that one butterfly species can gain...

Climate Change Pushes Butterflies North

Butterfly populations in Massachusetts have shifted north over the past two decades likely in response to climate change, new research shows. Species that are used to subtropical and warm climates, such as the giant swallowtail and zabulon skipper, were rare or absent in Massachusetts in the late 1980s. But now...

The Mathematical Butterfly: Simulations Provide New Insights On Flight

(ISNS) – Flapping and flitting butterflies have long inspired poets, singers and even boxers. Now their motions are inspiring researchers to understand how winged insects get from place to place. As the phrase 'float like a butterfly' shows, butterflies elegantly fly around, said study author Naoto Yokoyama, an assistant professor...