Male and Female Butterfly Born at Academy of Natural Sciences
The butterfly, known as Lexias pardalis, had half its body covered in markings typical of the male of its species and half covered in female markings. "I thought: 'Somebody's fooling with me. It's just too perfect,'" said Chris Johnson, the volunteer who made the discovery while working on the Academy's Butterflies! exhibit. "Then I got goose bumps."
"It slowly opened up, and the wings were so dramatically different, it was immediately apparent what it was," he added, according to a statement about the discovery released Tuesday by Drexel.