Weekly Videos

27. Gynandromorph

On this episode of Growing at Reiman Gardens, Butterfly Wing Curator, Nathan Brockman, discusses the rare gynandromorphic leopard lacewing (Cethosia cyane) that was flown in the Christina Reiman Butterfly Wing during May 2008. A nondisjunction of chromosomes that occurs during some stage of cell division results in the development of these rare butterflies. Since the opening of the butterfly wing in 2002, over 100,000 butterflies have been flown, but this is the one and only individual of its kind to be received by Reiman Gardens.