Gynandromorph – Common Blue
Posted: Sat May 15, 2021 10:44 am
These photos were taken a few days ago by my friend Tim Cowles who lives in Lyon. He managed to get photos of the underside from both sides, to further illustrate the differences on both surfaces.
I don’t know how rare this phenomenon is, but I have never seen one in many decades of butterfly-watching. I do have a vague recollection of a gynandromorph Silver-studded Blue on UKB some time ago.
The raised abdomen seems more indicative of a female pose although the shape suggests male.
What actually happens to cause such genetic mutations? This may be a rather rhetorical question, perhaps quite topical given the ability of viruses to mutate. I know very little about the subject (as my comments demonstrate), but the evolution of prokaryotes into eukaryotes appears to be a result of an incredibly rare freak mutation that happened only once in a billion years or so. Which led eventually to complex organisms like us posting on UK Butterflies. No wonder that SETI and the like are still searching.
Roger
I don’t know how rare this phenomenon is, but I have never seen one in many decades of butterfly-watching. I do have a vague recollection of a gynandromorph Silver-studded Blue on UKB some time ago.
The raised abdomen seems more indicative of a female pose although the shape suggests male.
What actually happens to cause such genetic mutations? This may be a rather rhetorical question, perhaps quite topical given the ability of viruses to mutate. I know very little about the subject (as my comments demonstrate), but the evolution of prokaryotes into eukaryotes appears to be a result of an incredibly rare freak mutation that happened only once in a billion years or so. Which led eventually to complex organisms like us posting on UK Butterflies. No wonder that SETI and the like are still searching.
