Butterflies originated in North America after splitting from moths, new study suggests

A blue morpho butterfly sits on a leaf. A new study finds that butterflies likely originated somewhere in western North America or Central America around 100 million years ago. (Kristen Grace/Florida Museum)

Akito Kawahara remembers being eight years old when he went on a special tour of the insect collection at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. He marveled at the vast array of pinned bugs before stopping in front of a large picture of the butterfly family tree.

A number of spots on that tree, he saw, were curiously blank.