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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2019)
6 Wednesday, November 13, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Tales from a Sisters Naturalist by Jim Anderson How the moth became a butterfly — maybe It is said that millions of years ago the buckeye on Bela Chladek9s nose was a moth. Bela9s not cross-eyed today, and the buckeyes are also still with us. I9ve created this story for students who are looking for- ward to college and taking the time to look at this Earth in more detail. I9ve met a lot of them in Central Oregon and I hope many of these bright kids are already into higher education. But just in case& This story started in a scientific journal and begins with <Once upon a time&= That was a little worrisome, but did seem appropriate as the <facts= in the story seemed worthy of discussion. The gist of it is that a group of very bright research- ers at the Florida Museum of Natural History 4 while using DNA and protein sequences from living insects 4 came up with the idea of how moths evolved into butterflies. Apparently, what got it all going was a head-bumping battle between scientists on what was happening millions of years ago in the evolution- ary goings-on between moths and bats. It is a fact that today bats use sound to locate moths at night and that moths use sound to avoid bats. People who have studied this agree that moths slowly adapted to bats preying on them and evolved ways to survive. The bats got onto these changes and did their own adapting, which forced the moths to shout, <Hey! Cut that out!= This is where the struggle to understand the change gets thicker than toothpaste. The bats apparently had begun to use different frequencies to find moths. But then new moths came into the picture and responded by jamming the bats9 sonar. They actually sent sound pulses that somehow told the bats they were not where the bats thought they were and told the bats the moths9 tis- sues are poisonous. To further complicate this fantastic battle for survival, many millions of years ago a group of moths decided to give up flying at night to escape the bats preying on them. They changed their wing structure and began flying in daylight to become today9s butterflies. Wow! Darwin had that one right by the face 4 adapt or die! The Florida Museum of Natural History study team TIME TO PUT ON WINTER TIRES Call and make an appointment today for NO-WAIT SERVICE! DAVIS TIRE had opened quite a door: moths changing to butterflies. The scientists are telling us the ancestral moth emerged some 300 million years ago, which is well before the old- est moth fossil of some 200 million years old. Dr. Kawahara, who is leading the team at the Florida museum, found that only 240 million years ago, most moths ceased to have chewing mouth parts in exchange for a tube-like mouth part capable of suck- ing up sap and water. Then the team deter- mined that the earliest but- terflies appeared on Earth some 98 million years ago. Echolocating bats emerged much later, some 50 million years ago. Hmmm, some- thing other than bats must have been the reason but- terflies became daytime insects&ya9 think? The team believed this was possible because natu- ral selection was making the nectar produced by plants accessible to these new frag- ile-wing butterflies that had better success in daylight than dark. They also stated that these new moths-who-became but- terflies dropped their night time coloring and began to develop bright and variable colors for daytime move- ments, useful for telling predators, <Hey you! I9m not good to eat. I9ll make you sick and you9ll die.= These new DNA samples taken from all major butter- fly families and moths have apparently helped the team from Florida to develop new thoughts regarding evolution- ary history. The group9s research demonstrated that moths have developed specialized hearing at least nine different times. It is interesting that Dr. Kawahara considers his work to be a fulfillment of a child- hood dream while growing up in Japan and the U.S.A. His passion was to learn more about butterflies and moths. While all this work sheds new light on the evolution- ary development of bats, moths and butterflies, Dr. Maia Heikkila, an evolution- ary biologist at the University of Helsinki in Finland said, <The dates derived from DNA and fossils are likely to be revised in the future, and a new story may emerge.= OK guys and gals, now9s the time. Get yourself together and start collecting butterflies and moths from the radiator of your family car or camper. Push your sci- ence/biology teachers into taking you into the voyage of DNA research. Contact pro- fessors of evolutionary biol- ogy in the schools you hope to attend. Get your energy going in the direction you want to go. It would be a supreme honor for me to write a story from your dissertation on YOUR discoveries of how, when and why moths and butterflies appeared on this beautiful old Earth of ours. Smile, Sisters! Hair, Skin & Nails 541-549-1026 541-549-6566 188 W. Sisters Park Dr. In Sisters Industrial Park across from SnoCap Mini Storage 484 W. Washington Ave. Suite B Serving Sisters Since 1962 PHOTO BY JIM ANDERSON We’re committed t to o y your o u r dental d e n t a l health! h e a l t h ! Exceptional Health, Prevention & Aesthetics For Your Family! Sisters Dental Trevor Frideres d.m.d. p 541-549-9486 f 541-549-9110 410 E. Cascade Ave. • P.O. 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