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Butterflies fly during the day while moths travel at night -- or so you might think. In reality, their behavior is much more complicated. A new study offers the first comprehensive overview of the surprisingly complex question of when butterflies and moths are active. The research identifies outliers -- night-flying butterflies and day-tripping moths -- and pinpoints nearly 50 shifts from nocturnal to daytime behavior over the insects' evolutionary history.
It also suggests that the earliest ancestor of butterflies and moths flew during the day, not at night, as previously thought.Image credit: Jeff Gage
