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News and Events => Science & Medical News => Topic started by: FairyGirl on July 13, 2011, 01:21:19 AM

Title: A rare he-she butterfly is born in London's NHM
Post by: FairyGirl on July 13, 2011, 01:21:19 AM
"A half-male, half-female butterfly has hatched at London's Natural History Museum.

A line down the insect's middle marks the division between its male side and its more colourful female side.

Failure of the butterfly's sex chromosomes to separate during fertilisation is behind this rare sexual chimera.

Once it has lived out its month-long life, the butterfly will join the museum's collection.

Only 0.01% of hatching butterflies are gynandromorphs; the technical term for these strange asymmetrical creatures. "


http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14108204 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14108204)


Rare beauty: Only 200 of the 4.5 million butterflies in London's Natural History Museum are a mix of two sexes.
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.bbcimg.co.uk%2Fmedia%2Fimages%2F54019000%2Fjpg%2F_54019039_buytterfly-002-01072011naturalhistorymuseumlondon2011%282%29.jpg&hash=93aba8f564bf2f9dd132cd4648224960683e7709)
Title: Re: A rare he-she butterfly is born in London's NHM
Post by: Lukas-H on July 13, 2011, 05:23:36 PM
Gyandromorphic animals are pretty cool to look at and its really interesting to think about genetics but I wish news sites would stop using stupid buzzwords just to get peoples attention (who probably wouldn't have looked at the article if it had said "Gyandromorph butterfly".
Title: Re: A rare he-she butterfly is born in London's NHM
Post by: Taka on July 13, 2011, 05:38:21 PM
i wonder if that butterfly thinks as a male or a female or both
Title: Re: A rare he-she butterfly is born in London's NHM
Post by: ~RoadToTrista~ on July 13, 2011, 07:02:44 PM
^^They could probably guess by how it mates.