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Rare, Beautiful Butterfly Emerges Half Male, Half Female

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="597"] Photo: Isa Betancourt/ANSP[/caption]

An unusual butterfly just emerged from its chrysalis at Drexel University's Academy of Natural Science: Its wings are slightly mismatched, but the bigger news is that the bug, a Lexias pardais, is half female and half male.

According to a press release:

Its two right wings—brown with yellow and white spots—were characteristic of a female of the species, and its two left wings—darker with green, blue and purple coloring—were typical of a male.

The right wings were shaped differently than the left wings, and the body’s coloration was exactly split lengthwise down the middle as half male and half female.

It's a condition called gynandromorphism, and it's very rare. Washington Post Rachel Feltman writes:

It usually happens early in development, when cells are just beginning to split to form an embryo. One of the early cells fails to split its sex chromosomes properly (for example, an XXYY might split into an X and an XYY instead of two XY cells).

These cells continue to divide and proliferate, and they're signaling for the organism to grow into two different sexes.

Researchers say they are thrilled at the opportunity to "study typically male and female genes and anatomy in the same body," reports the Smithsonian. And we're thrilled the animal kingdom once again shows us that things aren't always black and white when it comes to gender.

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"As has proven true time and again throughout the history of science," writes Ferris Jabr in Nautilus, "the creatures that seem strangest—those that are too odd, too asymmetrical to fit neatly into our presupposed categories—teach us the most about how all living things work."

The butterfly will be on display for a limited time starting this week at the Butterflies! exhibit at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.

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