www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Has anyone noticed this:

https://m.phys.org/news/2017-05-butterf ... years.html

Pretty amazing discovery imho...

Tony M.

Incredible! What more lies 'out there'? And, will they be discovered before they disappear?...

This looks a bit like the Real's/Cryptic Wood White scenario from a few years ago, where a butterfly was assumed to be a commoner species simply because it resembled it so closely, only for in-depth science to declare it as a different one.

I'm sure there are still 'new' butterfly species out there waiting to be presented for the first time to the world, but in the 'western' sphere of influence, I suspect that any new discoveries will continue to be unearthed via dissection of body parts.

... hence my 'iPhone' comment in Tony's diary!! If you don't keep up with the latest Melitaea you're soon out of date!

The deeper truth is that Linnaeus and Genesis (and Bernard d'Abrera, RIP) got it wrong. The living world is not neatly divided into static, morphologically discrete species, but is a work in progress, better understood in terms of gene flow and actual breeding populations. It is very interesting that Melitaea acentria is believed to have originated as a hybrid.

Guy

It is very interesting that Melitaea acentria is believed to have originated as a hybrid.

It is suggested that some humans are hybrids with Neanderthals. Moreover, recent thinking is that Neanderthals were actually pretty smart, maybe even smarter than sapiens.

Clearly most contributors to ukb have a lot of Neanderthal ancestry but I'm not so sure the same can be said about our politicians

Jack