ArticleNature communications2024
A trans-oceanic flight of over 4,200 km by painted lady butterflies.
Article in Nature communications, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- From skylight cues to magnetic fields: the toolkit of insect long-distance navigation.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Review
- An Equatorial Hemispheric Barrier Shapes the Diversification of Migratory Belenois Butterflies.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- The diversity of lepidopteran spatial orientation strategies - neuronal mechanisms and emerging challenges in a changing world.Journal of comparative physiology. A, Neuroethology, sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology · 2026Review
- Article
- A north-south hemispheric migratory divide in the butterfly Vanessa cardui.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Long-range pollen transport across the North Sea: Insights from migratory hoverflies landing on a remote oil rig.The Journal of animal ecology · 2025Article
- Tales of a Super Butterfly: Is Vanessa carye a Truly Migrant Species? Unraveling Migration Using Morphological and Genomics Approaches.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Trans-Atlantic Dispersal and Introgression Explain Holarctic Disjunct Distributions in Vanessa Butterflies.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Origins of Nearctic migratory landbird vagrants recorded in Europe revealed by feather isotopic analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Population Genetics Meets Ecology: A Guide to Individual-Based Simulations in Continuous Landscapes.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Strontium isoscape of sub-Saharan Africa allows tracing origins of victims of the transatlantic slave trade.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Trans-Saharan migratory patterns iniScience · 2024Article
- Potential Regional Pollination Services ofPlants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Effects of temperature experienced across life stages on morphology and flight behavior of painted lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui).Movement ecology · 2024Article
- Butterfly Diversity and Community Dynamics in the Central Himalayas: Species Composition, Richness, Abundance, and Seasonal Variation of Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) in Bhorletar, Nepal.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- A trans-oceanic flight of over 4,200 km by painted lady butterflies.Nature communications · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The extent of aerial flows of insects circulating around the planet and their impact on ecosystems and biogeography remain enigmatic because of methodological challenges. Here we report a transatlantic crossing by Vanessa cardui butterflies spanning at least 4200 km, from West Africa to South America (French Guiana) and lasting between 5 and 8 days. Even more, we infer a likely natal origin for these individuals in Western Europe, and the journey Europe-Africa-South America could expand to 7000 km or more. This discovery was possible through an integrative approach, including coastal field surveys, wind trajectory modelling, genomics, pollen metabarcoding, ecological niche modelling, and multi-isotope geolocation of natal origins. The overall journey, which was energetically feasible only if assisted by winds, is among the longest documented for individual insects, and potentially the first verified transatlantic crossing. Our findings suggest that we may be underestimating transoceanic dispersal in insects and highlight the importance of aerial highways connecting continents by trade winds.
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