Lines of Evidence
The modern study of butterfly higher classification began with Ehrlich's phenetic use of hundreds of previously overlooked morphological characters in tabular form, across families and major groups (Ehrlich, 1958). Scoble (1995) and others continued the search for new characters, but with their application to cladism. Larval characters are now commonly integrated with those from adult butterflies. The addition of molecular data has allowed researchers to resolve clades in many lineages.
Evidence is gleaned from paleontology where some 50 butterfly fossils have been identified, from morphology and the study of homologies, from molecular genetics and comparative biochemistry, from comparative ethology, and from present-day geographical distributions and ecology. Even though butterflies are among the most studied insects, new findings are coming to light almost every month, and the prospect of a stable butterfly classification based on strongly supported clades is seemingly within reach.
Read more about this topic: Butterfly Evolution
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