Latest Hypolimnas bolina Stories

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have traced the evolution of a species of tropical butterfly, infected with a bacterium that kills males, by comparing current butterfly populations with more than 200 museum specimens.The bacteria, called Wolbachia, are a parasitic microbe and are known to significantly alter the reproductive capabilities of a high proportion of insect species, including wasps and fruit fly. The team found that the male-to-female ratio in butterfly populations...

In a perfect world, for every boy there would of course be a girl, but a new study shows that actual sex ratios can sometimes sway very far from that ideal. In fact, the male-to-female ratio of one tropical butterfly has shifted rapidly over time and space, driven by a parasite that specifically kills males of the species, reveals a report published online on September 10th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication."We were surprised at the speed with which change in sex ratio could...