Before turning into a butterfly, a caterpillar wraps itself in a chrysalis. But what goes on within that casing during the weeks it takes the insect to transform is still a bit of a mystery to science. Now researchers have used high-resolution computer tomography (CT) scans to track the development of the painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui), mapping changes in a living individual as it metamorphoses. They published their results—along with several remarkably detailed images—today (May 14) in Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
“The crucial thing in this case is that they examined live material,” said Rolf Beutel, a professor of entomology at Friedrich Schiller University of Jena in Germany, who was not involved in the study. “This is really exciting.”
Traditionally, to learn about metamorphosis entomologists have had to dissect pupae at varying stages of development, killing them in the process. More recently, researchers have used microscopic CT ...
