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PHILADELPHIA — A butterfly quickly caught the attention of researchers when it emerged from its chrysalis at Drexel University.
As soon as it unfolded its wings, Chris Johnson said he realized the butterfly was half male and half female. He was volunteering at the butterfly exhibit when he spotted the unusual butterfly, which had wings characteristic of a male on one side and female on the other. It is the result of a condition called gynandromorphism, which is only found in about 1 in 10,000 butterflies, according to SciShow.
“I thought: ‘Somebody’s fooling with me. It’s just too perfect,’” Johnson said in a statement. “Then I got goose bumps.”
The coloration of the Lexias pardalis butterfly is split right down the middle, according to the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University, where the “Butterflies!” exhibit is located. The two wings on the butterfly’s right side are brown with white spots like a female, while the wings on the left side are dark with green, blue and purple like a male.
Johnson spotted the butterfly while emptying the exhibit’s pupa chamber, where chrysalises and cocoons develop after coming to the academy. He notified others and they isolated the butterfly so it could be used for research, instead of being released into the exhibit where it would live for only a few days.
By preserving the butterfly, researchers hope to gain additional insight into comparative morphology, anatomy and evolution, according to the academy.
“Gynandromorphism is most frequently noticed in bird and butterfly species where the two sexes have very different coloration,” said entomology collection manager Jason Weintraub in a statement. “It can result from non-disjunction of sex chromosomes, an error that sometimes occurs during the division of chromosomes at a very early stage of development.”
The butterfly will be exhibited at the academy, located in Philadelphia, starting on Jan. 17. The chrysalis originally came from a sustainable butterfly farm on Penang Island in Malaysia, according to the academy.
