We report the discovery of a neo-sex chromosome in Monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, and several of its close relatives. Z-linked scaffolds in the D. plexippus genome assembly were identified via sex-specific differences in Illumina sequencing coverage. Additionally, a majority of the D. plexippus genome assembly was assigned to chromosomes based on counts of 1-to-1 orthologs relative to the...

Eastern North American monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus L.) show a series of range shifts during their breeding season. Using ecological niche modeling, we studied the environmental context of these shifts by identifying the ecological conditions that monarchs use in successive summer months. Monarchs use a consistent ecological regimen through the summer, but these conditions contrast str...

An issue to explain in cognitive science is nowadays the case of certain conditionals that people seem deem as a priori false. Those appear be false by virtue semantics: meanings their antecedents and consequents not admit any link between them. This problem because, from point view classical logic, they are always false; there can situations which true (as logic provides, whenever false, those...

We assessed the toxicity of permethrin residues from barrier treatments for mosquito control on monarch butterßy (Danaus plexippus L.) larvae and adults. The motivation for this study was an absence of work on the effects of this commonly used insecticide on nontarget herbivorous insects and the fact that monarchsÕ host plant, milkweed (Asclepias spp.), is often found in treated areas. In one e...

Survival and growth of monarch larvae, Danaus plexippus (L.), after exposure to either Cry1Ab-expressing pollen from three Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn (Zea mays L.) events differing in toxin expression or to the insecticide, lambda-cyhalothrin, were examined in field studies. First instars exposed to low doses ( approximately 22 grains per cm(2)) of event-176 pollen gained 18% less weight ...

Climate change can profoundly alter species' distributions due to changes in temperature, precipitation, or seasonality. Migratory monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) may be particularly susceptible to climate-driven changes in host plant abundance or reduced overwintering habitat. For example, climate change may significantly reduce the availability of overwintering habitat by restricting t...