Ancient DNA Extraction from Museum Archives Reveals New Butterfly Species

An international team of scientists from Londons Natural History Museum, in collaboration with various museums, has discovered nine new species of butterflies through DNA extraction from century-old specimens.

This research, part of the AMISTAD project, involved analyzing over 1,000 samples from global collections, specifically targeting the Thereus genus of blue butterflies found in the neotropics. Entomologist Christophe Faynel highlighted that by comparing ancient DNA with modern samples, researchers resolved previously unnoticed species, enhancing our understanding of biodiversity.

The team retrieved genetic material from a butterfly leg over 100 years old using advanced DNA sequencing techniques, confirming physical distinctions among species that were visually similar. The recently published findings in Zootaxa revealed newly named species including Thereus cacao, T. ramirezi, and T. confusus, emphasizing the urgency of conservation due to habitat loss in South America.

Principal Curator of Butterflies at the Natural History Museum, Blanca Huertas, noted that the collections, some dating back to the 1600s, serve as irreplaceable archives for studying species evolution and conservation efforts.