Researchers in Hong Kong have discovered that a rare butterfly has flown 3,000km (1,864 miles) from Japan, setting a new world record for the longest migration recorded for the species.
Advertisement
The chestnut tiger, or Parantica sita, which belongs to the danaid group, was found in Repulse Bay by Ling Yuet-fung, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Biological Sciences, on December 21.
A tag on its wing bore Japanese characters and the date August 18, indicating that it had been tagged and released in Fukushima four months earlier, a university spokesman said on Thursday.
Using the URL-branded stickers on the butterfly wings, Ling, together with Timothy Bonebrake and Emily Jones in the school’s Danaid Butterfly Research project, managed to contact Masayoshi Shimizu and Hiroki Takizawa in Japan, who had tagged and released the butterfly.
The adult male chestnut tiger was found to be at least 124 days old and had travelled more than 3,000km, setting a record for the longest known migration of the species.
Advertisement
“It’s an astonishing feat. For a little insect like this to fly more than 3,000km and do so for more than 100 days just shows the physiological capacity of these creatures,” Bonebrake said.
Ling released the butterfly back into the wild after recording its data.