New butterfly named for pioneering 17th-century entomologist Maria Sibylla Merian
Wednesday, December 5, 2018 - 17:50
in Biology & Nature
More than two centuries before initiatives to increase the number of women in STEM fields, Maria Sibylla Merian was a professional artist and naturalist whose close observations and illustrations were the first to accurately portray the metamorphosis of butterflies and moths and emphasize the intimate relationship between insects and their host plants. Now, a new Central American butterfly species has been named in her honor.