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When you think of butterflies, chances are you imagine unmistakable insects with bright, bold wings. But it turns out that individual butterfly species are sometimes shockingly difficult to tell apart. Cue museum collections and genetic analysis—a biological dream team.
“Thanks to the genetic revolution and the collaboration of researchers and museums in various countries led by London’s Natural History Museum, century-old butterflies are now speaking to us,” Christophe Faynel, an entomologist at the Société entomologique Antilles Guyane, said in a statement. “By comparing modern DNA with ancient DNA from historical specimens, we can resolve long confused and unnoticed species and uncover greater biodiversity than previously known.”
An international team of scientists in AMISTAD, a new research project led by London’s Natural History Museum, are sorting through the members of a group of blue South American butterflies. Using more than 1,000 samples from collections around the globe, they discovered nine previously unidentified butterfly species in the Thereus genus. This genus gossamer-winged butterfly is found in the neotropics.The teams gave priorities to the Thereus species at risk, since South America’s tropical forests undergo rapid deforestation.
Plate illustrating the forewing androconia of 16 male butterflies in the Thereus genena species group, revealing distinctive scent-scale patterns used to differentiate the species. Image: Zootaxa
The team also retrieved genetic material from an over 100-year-old butterfly leg using a cutting-edge DNA sequencing technique. With this material, they could study the tiny physical distinctions between butterflies so visually alike, entomologists thought they were the same species. The genetic examination confirmed the differences concealed right beneath their noses.
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The team specifically looked at a group of Neotropical butterflies called the genena species group within the subfamily Theclinae, which was thought to consist of just five species. Faynel and his colleague’s results, recently published in Zootaxa, bring to light new information about our fellow terrestrial creatures, helping us understand the various relationships between species and target conservation endeavors in the direction of potentially endangered ones.
“Some newly identified species were collected a century ago in habitats that might no longer exist, putting at risk the existence of these species and highlighting the urgency of this work,” said Blanca Huertas, Principal Curator of Butterflies at the Natural History Museum and co-author of the study.
The newly named species include Thereus cacao, T. ramirezi, and T. confusus, with researchers drawing inspiration from regions, local scientists, and the taxonomic knot they overcame, presumably among others.
Ultimately, the study is also a testament to the enduring scientific value of collections. The Natural History Museum hosts “five million butterfly specimens which makes up about 6% of the entire collection,” Blanca concluded. “With some of these specimens dating back to the 1600s, the Museum’s collections are an irreplaceable archive of life of our planet, allowing scientists and researchers to study species that may no longer exist, or are known to be at risk.”
