Taxacom: Butterflies flying from Africa to South America

[John Grehan]

Why improbable? What is to say that this was an improbable event? Assuming
of course, the the operative statement "These Stunning Butterflies Flew
2,600 Miles Across the Atlantic Ocean Without Stopping" is correct. My
recollection (perhaps erroneous) is that the authors identified the
probable source, but did not confirm the method of dispersal.

Cheers, John

On Fri, Sep 13, 2024 at 2:29 PM Kenneth Kinman via Taxacom <
taxacom at lists.ku.edu> wrote:

>
> Les Watling wrote this paragraph:
>      "I think an interesting case in point was the news story a month or
> so ago
> of West African butterflies arriving en masse on the eastern coast of S
> America. I don't remember the exact details, but it seemed a large number
> of butterflies had been swept across the Atlantic.... so a dispersal event
> for that species is possible if they survive in the new location. My point
> is that a dispersal event may be improbable in many cases, but here you
> have direct evidence of its possibility."
>       This news story appears in Smithsonian Magazine (weblink below).
> Yet another improbable dispersal event, even today when Africa and South
> America
> are much further apart than in the past (when they were a lot closer to
> each other).
> And such improbable dispersal events are more probable when they have
> millions
> of years to happen (even very improbable rafting events).  .
>              -------------Ken Kinman
>
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> These Stunning Butterflies Flew 2,600 Miles Across the Atlantic Ocean
> Without Stopping<
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> >
> Researchers combined several lines of evidence to solve the mystery of why
> a group of painted ladies, which do not live in South America, were found
> fluttering on a beach in French Guiana
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