Researchers identified an extremely unusual butterfly that is half male and half female.
The fascinating specimen has two right wings that are brown, yellow and white (characteristics of a female) and two left wings that are green with blue and purple coloring (features of a male), Drexel University reported.
"I thought: 'Somebody's fooling with me. It's just too perfect. Then I got goose bumps," said researcher Chris Johnson. "It slowly opened up, and the wings were so dramatically different, it was immediately apparent what it was."
The butterfly was first discovered when Johnson was emptying the Butterflies! exhibit's pupa chamber, meaning it had only recently hatched. Soon after its discovery the researchers determined the Lexias pardalis butterfly had a condition called bilateral gynandromorphy.
"Gynandromorphism is most frequently noticed in bird and butterfly species where the two sexes have very different coloration. 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," said Entomology Collection Manager Jason Weintraub, a lepidopterist.
The discovery of a specimen with this rare condition could provide insight into "comparative morphology, anatomy and evolution."
Collecting insects from their natural environment could determine how specific populations rise and fall over time. It can also reveal how factors such as climate change and environmental damage are influencing the size and makeup of insect populations. Since the Academy's Entomology Collection contains more than 3.5 million specimens it is almost impossible to determine how frequently gynandromorphic insects occur in the population.
"In most cases, such specimens are 'discovered' in museum collections by a researcher who is carefully examining reproductive organs of insects under the microscope and stumbles across a specimen with both male and female characteristics," Weintraub concluded.
