cross-posted from: https://lemmy.nz/post/28117898

The Atlas blue butterfly is found in the mountain ranges of Morocco and northeast Algeria.

While it had been suspected to have the most chromosome pairs in the animal kingdom, this is the first time experts have sequenced the butterfly genome to confirm.

For comparison, a close relative found widely in the UK, the common blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus), has 24 chromosomes.

Changes in chromosome numbers are thought to contribute to the process of new species forming and help species adapt to their environment.