First New Butterfly Species Found In Alaska In 28 Years May Be Ancient Hybrid, Researchers Claim

A new species of butterfly discovered in Alaska may be an ancient hybrid of animal, a new study suggests. This is the first species of the flying insect discovered in The Last Frontier in 28 years.

The Tanana Arctic, scientifically known as Oeneis tanana, may be the only species of butterfly to regularly make the frozen landscape of Alaska its home, according to investigators.

Biologists theorize the Tanana Arctic may have first taken to the skies sometime between 28,000 and 14,000 years before our own time. Two species, the White-veined Arctic butterfly and the Chryxus Arctic, may have mated to form the new variety of insect. If true, all three species may have flown together at the same time in the tail end of the last period of glaciation.

If it is confirmed that the newly-discovered species could be the result of cross-breeding between two species of butterflies, likely prior to the last ice age, this finding could help answer questions on ancient migrations about other species.

"Scientists who study plants and fish have suggested that unglaciated parts of ancient Alaska known as Beringia, including the strip of land that once connected Asia and what's now Alaska, served as a refuge where plants and animals waited out the last ice age and then moved eastward or southward from there. This is potentially a supporting piece of evidence for that," said Andrew Warren of the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity =read more=http://www.techtimes.com/articles/142538/20160320/first-new-butterfly-species-found-in-alaska-in-28-years-may-be-ancient-hybrid-researchers-claim.htm