More than 100 species of moths became darker to blend in with pollution during Britain’s industrial revolution, but did these different moth species all rely on the same gene to adapt? Two color ...

New research by the University of Liverpool reveals that in three species of moth, including the famous peppered moth, it indeed did. Interestingly, however, the mutations that gave rise to dark forms ...

Open almost any textbook dealing with biological evolution and you’ll probably find photographs of peppered moths resting on tree trunks—illustrating the classic story of natural selection in action.

Katie has a PhD in maths, specializing in the intersection of dynamical systems and number theory. She reports on topics from maths and history to society and animals. Katie has a PhD in maths, ...

In tea gardens (represented as bottom left), tea plants grow as dense branched shrubs, making visual recognition from aerial views difficult. In addition, both color morphs (melanic and grey) are not ...

It is difficult to distinguish caterpillars of the peppered moth from a twig. The caterpillars not only mimic the form but also the color of a twig. In a new study, researchers demonstrate that the ...

Last week, we posted a letter from scientists Kevin Padian and Alan Gishlick in response to a piece by Jonathan Wells in the September/October issue of Books & Culture, dealing with the notorious ...

Lepidopterans (butterflies and moths) exhibit a splendid diversity of wing color patterns, and many species display black and white, or dark and bright, wing color pattern variants associated with the ...

The rise of dark forms of many species of moth in heavily polluted areas of 19th and 20th century Britain, known as industrial melanism, was a highly visible response to environmental change. But did ...