Pingie: HTTP:: Uncovering the History of Butterflies

HTTP:: Uncovering the History of Butterflies
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Despite being virtually everywhere, butterflies are some of the least understood creatures on the face of the planet, as far as their evolution goes. They come in a huge variety of shapes, sizes and species, and completely lack fossil evidence on which scientists could build theories. Thanks to a new study, experts now have a lead. A team of investigators has determined the evolutionary history of a butterfly family and has also revealed how the insects managed to escape a global extinction event. Some ten years ago, University of Turku in Finland expert and evolutionary biologist Niklas Wahlberg decided to start what he called a “pet project” at the time. This referred to drawing an evolutionary tree for the Nymphalid butterfly family, which includes such butterflies as the monarchs. In total, the family has about 6,000 species and 540 genera, biologists say. Wahlberg simply got tired of not knowing whether the insects appeared 35 or 130 million years ago. With the !
help of professional and amateur collectors around the world, the expert and his team began the massive collecting efforts. When they had collected a number of 400 genera, they decided that it was time to start investigations. Ten genetic markers and 235 body features were determined, classified, and then used to construct the Nymphalid ...
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http://news.softpedia.com/news/Uncovering-the-History-of-Butterflies-123469.shtml
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