this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2025
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Science Memes

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257
Check yourself (mander.xyz)
submitted 5 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

I did not think butterflies / moths was a phylogenetic distinction.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 days ago

Many species of butterlies and moths eat honeydew, aka aphid poop, so no nectar needed. Also the larvae do the bulk of the eating. Imagos of lepidoptera only need to survive not grow so food requirements are fairly low.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 days ago

And now we can link moths to the no poop guy!

The real reason he didn't want to shit, was because he learned that moths are attracted to it and he is deathly afraid of moths.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 days ago (1 children)

What came first; moths or lamps?

[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Lamp, the giant one in the sky.

[–] Grandwolf319 9 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Legends say some of the original moths are still flying towards it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

Moth sacrifice their eternity so Icarus can fly.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

who do you think made the moon?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Can somebody explain the comment? They all look like butterflies, not moths

[–] ryedaft 48 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Oldest known butterfly fossils are 56 million years old. Moths are much older. The picture is of butterflies but the fossils are going to be moths.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago

thank you. long live the lepidopterans!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah, but 230 million years is/would be new info & older than thought.

Edit: o shit ... with wings.
sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0895981125002469

This specimen comes from a communal latrine in the lower Carnian deposits (∼236 Ma) of the Chañares Formation, La Rioja Province, northwestern Argentina. The tiny fossil scales are hollow and ornamented, which is a synapomorphy of Lepidoptera and suggests that they could belong to this group. If this is the case, the Chañares scales would partially fill the temporal mismatch between phylogenomic date and the fossil evidence of butterflies and moths because they preceded the previously oldest lepidopteran record by c. 35 million years. Moreover, the scales have a combination of features present in early diverging glossatan lepidopterans. The inclusion of the temporal data provided by the Chañares scales into an updated temporal calibration of lepidopteran phylogeny shows that the proboscis, a key evolutionary novelty for the group (Glossata), evolved between c. 260–244 Ma. Thus, the proboscis-bearing lepidopterans would be part of the repertory of new plants and animals that diversified during the aftermath of the EPME.

[–] ryedaft 3 points 3 days ago

Well the molecular clocks put the divergence back to about 100 Ma to 66 Ma years ago.

From Wikipedia:

Molecular clock estimates suggest that butterflies originated sometime in the Late Cretaceous, but only significantly diversified during the Cenozoic,[10][1] with one study suggesting a North American origin for the group.[1

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

What did they eat? Or was it only caterpillars eating and butterflies fucking everywhere? Man the Permian was freaky.

Also why are they not 2 metres wide? Disappointing.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Realistically speaking, would they even be able to support a body that large on those types of wings? Or would they have to evolve some form of rigid structure like a bird or bats wings?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Worked fine for Dragonflies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meganeura They had wingspans of up to 75 centimeters.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

'Butterflies with bat wings feeding on dwarf mammoths' now a thing in my mind

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago

Giant butterflies that hypnotize people and suck out their souls are a major element of China Mieville's "Perdido Street Station." Highly reccomended if you like fantasy.