Published: 13 July 2007
A butterfly in the South Pacific has displayed the fastest known rate of evolution in a dramatic "arms race" with a microscopic parasite that kills only males of the species.
Biologists have witnessed how the butterfly has fought back against the parasite by spreading a gene that confers resistance against a bacterium that kills male embryos.
The scientists said the rapid spread of the gene exemplified the Red Queen principle of evolution - named after the character in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass who ran faster and faster only to stay in the same place. continue...
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