LEPIDOPTERA IN THE NEWS

Man Sentenced to Prison for Smuggling Butterflies

A Japanese man who admitted smuggling and selling rare and protected butterflies was sentenced Monday in Los Angeles to 21 months in federal prison.

Rosier outlook for Palos Verdes blue butterfly

The rare insect's numbers are increasing through a pioneering program that includes a biologist baby-sitting 720 pupae.

Grant to assist Professor's study of Butterflies

An assistant professor in the Institute of Ecology, Altizer received the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Development Career award to study migration and infectious disease patterns in Monarch butterflies.

Moths drink the tears of sleeping birds

A species of moth drinks tears from the eyes of sleeping birds using a fearsome proboscis shaped like a harpoon, scientists have revealed.

Hybrid Speciation Discovered In Butterflies In Sierra

Science Daily — University of Nevada, Reno researcher Matthew Forister is among a group of scientists that have documented an unusual type of speciation in the Sierra Nevada, including a hybrid species of butterfly that can trace its lineage as far back as almost a half a million years ago.

Photo in the News: Hybrid Butterfly Found on Cold Mountaintops

The unnamed alpine-dwelling species of the butterfly genus Lycaeides, seen here, appears to be a genetic mashup of two known species—Lycaeides melissa and Lycaeides idas—according to a new study

To Elude Bats, A Moth Keeps Its Hearing In Tune

Science Daily — Current understanding of the co-evolution of bats and moths has been thrown into question following new research reported in the journal Current Biology.

Food For Flight: Monarch Butterfly Migration And Forest Restoration

Science Daily — USDA Forest Service (FS) research in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas suggests that decades of fire suppression have reduced the area’s food supply for migrating monarch butterflies—and that restoration efforts that include prescribed burning can reverse this trend. Craig Rudolph and Ron Thill, research ecologists with the FS Southern Research Station (SRS), along with SRS ecologists Charles Ely, Richard Schaefer and J. Howard Williamson, report their findings in the latest issue of the Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society.

Edge Density Key To Controlling Gypsy Moth Spread

Science Daily — Controlling population peaks on the edges of the gypsy moth range may help to slow their invasion into virgin territory, according to a team of researchers.

Collector donates his butterflies

The Museum of Natural History is now home to 9,000 new individuals. Individual butterflies, that is, and they come in every size, shape and color imaginable.