Moth and Butterfly Chromosomes Have Stayed Remarkably Stable for 250 Million Years

Butterflies and moths trace much of their chromosome structure to 32 ancient DNA blocks from over 250 million years ago, despite huge diversity today.

Medicine

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A large genomic study found that the chromosome structure of butterflies and moths has remained remarkably stable across more than 250 million years of evolution. Researchers compared over 200 high-quality genomes and identified 32 ancient chromosome building blocks, called Merian elements, that can still be traced across most living species. A major ancient fusion left most modern species with 31 chromosomes, while the original building blocks remained recognizable. This stability is striking because butterflies and moths have diversified into more than 160,000 described species with enormous differences in size, wing patterns, and caterpillar forms. The study also found a smaller number of lineages that broke the pattern through chromosome fusions, splits, and large-scale reshuffling. The findings suggest that major biological diversity can develop even when much of the underlying chromosome structure stays stable.

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