On the Outlook for a Gynandromorph to Chase

Orange trees dotted the landscape and flowerbeds hugged most houses in the small town where I grew up. The fragrance wafting through the air was sweet. A variety of butterflies (Lepidoptera) must have thought so too, because they were everywhere. Swallowtails. Monarchs. Painted Ladies. Mourning Cloaks. And, of course, the little Skipper, Sulphurs and the Blue Copper, to name a few.

Needless to say, I spent a majority of my summers chasing these classy insects around the backyard, down dirt roads, over irrigation furrows and into open fields. Some found new homes in canning jars stuffed with twigs and leaves. Others were straight pinned to poster board after succumbing to alcohol-soaked cotton balls. Most shimmied right through my tiny fingers and resumed their flight, flitting and fluttering their stuff to the end of their days.

Many decades later, I still find myself drawn to butterflies. Whenever I'm outdoors, whether I garden, walk or sit on a bench, I keep hoping I'll spot one. I don't know if I'm intrigued by their metamorphosis from egg to caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly — or if my fascination is simple childhood wonder that a “bug” with such delicate wings exists at all.

Recently, my interest peaked again after learning that butterflies can have both male and female parts. It's a rare phenomenon called gynandromorphism. This anomaly is so rare that it is seen in only one out of every 10,000. Luke Brown, who is the lead lepidopterist at London's Natural History Museum, has encountered only three in his career. To view color photographs and learn more, investigate Business Insider article “10 Striking Photos of Half-Male, Half-Female Butterflies” by Harrison Jacobs, June 9, 2014 at http://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-d-warren-photos-of-butterflies-2014-6

For more information about Luke Brown and his work at London's Natural History Museum, read “A rare he-she butterfly is born in London's NHM” by Jennifer Carpenter, Science Reporter for BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14108204

In the meantime, while I stay on the lookout for a gynandromorph to chase, I'll savor the snapshot taken several years ago of a visitor who stopped by my front yard to smell a pretty pink dahlia.

Dahlia visitor. (photo by Launa Herrmann)