Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

2026-01-30 @ 11.56.48 ∈ In English

Tropical feedback loop: Butterfly mimicry patterns evolve faster near the equator

[If] one of your competitors was an Olympian speed runner, you'd quickly conclude that your time would be best spent chasing after some of the slower players. If there were multiple Olympian [runners, by wearing the same uniform they could implicitly tell] you not to bother trying to catch any of them.

2023-07-13 @ 14.50.32 ∈ In English

Small-winged and lighter colored butterflies likely to be at greatest threat from climate change

Butterflies from the Lycaenidae family which have small, bright, and often iridescent, wings had the poorest thermal buffering and low thermal tolerance. […] A trade-off in terms of butterflies' cooling strategies was observed: those that were good at thermal buffering were less good at thermal tolerance and vice versa.