Researchers have developed a model that can recreate, with only a few parameters, the wing patterns of a large group of insects, shedding light on how these complex patterns form. For many species of ...

The dainty veins gracing the wings of dragonflies and other insects are like fingerprints: Each wing displays a distinct pattern. A randomized mathematical process may help explain how certain thin ...

Organisms have evolved endless morphological, physiological, and behavioral novel traits during the course of evolution. Novel traits were proposed to evolve mainly by orchestration of preexisting ...

A painstaking study of wing morphology shows both the striking uniformity of individuals in a species and a subtle pattern of linked variations that evolution can exploit. Two years ago, to prepare ...

Heliconius charithonia is one of the species of butterflies whose wing patterns scientists scrutinized to better understand the evolutionary process. This butterfly is wild-type; the genetically ...

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 ...

Study of molting patterns in fossilized colored feathers suggests evolution of dinosaurs and birds was 'more complex than ...

An intriguing new study hints that the wing color patterns on a migrating monarch may help the insects fly better. Butterflies congregate at their winter roost in Sierra Chincua, Mexico. The cool ...

A monarch butterfly with a critical wing injury was given a second chance to fly after New York rescuers performed an intricate transplant procedure. The vulnerable insect was brought to Sweetbriar ...

In the frantic world of fruitfly courtship, the difference between attracting a mate and going home alone may depend on having the right wing spots. Now, Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers ...

Harvard researchers have developed a computational model that can mimic, with only a few, simple parameters, the complex wing patterns of a large group of distantly-related insects, shedding light on ...