© Christian Ziegler - In Central and South America live two different species of butterflies with identically the same pattern on their wings. Eleven million years ago, the two species each went their separate evolutionary paths, eventually arriving at the same solution to deter their natural enemies: a color pattern on their wings that to birds is equivalent to "I'm not a tasty morsel. You would expect the identical physical appearance to have the same genetic engine. But evolutionary biologists from KU Leuven and Puerto Rico, found that's not quite the case. The research, published in Science , shows that an identical appearance does not automatically mean that the animals walked the same evolutionary path genetically. The research shows that evolution is much less predictable than previously thought. In nature, everything is about (over)living.
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