The existence of a new butterfly species is discovered recently in Israel. A popular entomologist of Russia has brought this revolutionary breakthrough.
According to Phys.org, Vladimir Lukhtanov, a famous entomologist, discovered a new butterfly species in Israel. Lukhtanov is an evolutionary biologist at the Zoological Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia. Previously people thought the new butterfly is a member of the common species. But, later it was identified as a whole new organism, even it has an absolutely new evolutionary history.
The name of this new butterfly species is Acentria's fritillary. This insect was flying over the slopes of the famous Mount Hermon ski resort, situated in the northern Israel when it was first detected. Popular journal Comparative Cytogenetics reported this fact clearly.
Vladimir Lukhtanov utters that many people observed this new butterfly even some people photographed this colorful insect. The interesting thing is, no one was able to recognize the insect as a completely separate species. The lepidopterists, expert persons in moths and butterflies, previously assumed that this new butterfly species belonged to common species, Persian fritillary. The key reason behind this assumption is the similarity between the appearance of the new butterfly and the butterflies of the said common species.
Interestingly, no one tried to study the internal anatomy and the DNA of this new butterfly species. Lukhtanov is the first person who successfully identified this new butterfly. Earlier in 2012, he and his students together initiated a minute study about the Israeli butterflies. They used both the modern and the traditional techniques during the study.
Just one year later in 2013 Asya Novikova, sampled a number of fritillaries from the Mt. Hermon. Novikova was a Ph.D. student at the Hebrew University in 2013. Now from this time, researchers observed that the specimens indicated some difference while comparing with the common Persian fritillary. They noticed that the Genitalia of the sampled fritillaries were not similar like the Persian fritillary, and the new butterfly species proves this fact.
The researchers then studied the whole fact in-depth. The research team even carried out the sequencing DNA from the existing specimens and discovered that these specimens possessed a unique and different molecular signature. This molecular signature clearly showed a huge difference between the specimens and the DNA of the common fritillaries. So the current discovery of the new butterfly species is the outcome of this intensive research study.
It seems that the new butterfly species Acentria's fritillary must be the endemic of the northern Israel and probably the neighboring territories, like Syria, Lebanon. This new species must be the final outcome of the known hybridization between the two other important species. This known process is present in plants, though it is the first time that researchers have discovered it in the butterflies also.
The discovery of this new butterfly bears a great significance. Because the first time in 109 years that a new butterfly species is discovered from a specific area of Israel. No doubt this is a great incident that explores many important dimensions in the arena of scientific research.
