Many butterflies develop wing patterns that mimic other species to protect themselves from predators. While growing complex body parts like wings involves many genes, the difference between two ...

Researchers have uncovered a surprising genetic mechanism that influences the vibrant and complex patterns on butterfly wings. The team discovered that an RNA molecule, rather than a protein as ...

Butterflies and a moth species reused the same two genes, ivory and optix, to create similar warning colors over millions of ...

The female swallowtail butterfly (left) has extra orange spots and a different shape on its wings to mimic species that are toxic to predators, while the male (right) has the standard set of white ...