August 13, 2026 Butterfly effects of climate change by Andrea Wild, CSIRO edited by Swati Mestri, reviewed by Robert Egan Swati Mestri Scientific Editor Meet our editorial team Behind our editorial process Robert Egan Senior Editor Meet our editorial team Behind our editorial process Editors' notes This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: fact-checked peer-reviewed publication trusted source proofread The GIST Add as preferred source Australian National Insect Collection at CSIRO holds 2,000 drawers of butterfly specimens, including some that were collected more than a century ago. In the past, insect collecting was a hobby as well as a science, and butterflies were hugely popular.
Over time, many historical butterfly collections have been donated to CSIRO. These carefully pinned specimens, together with the data recorded about where and when they were found, are highly valuable for researchers today. They tell us where different butterfly species used to be found across Australia.
Combined with scientifically collected specimens held at CSIRO and in museums, and published scientific literature about butterflies, we can build a picture of how the ranges (where they live) of different species have changed over time. We can also use photographs of butterfly sightings that people add to databases like iNaturalist and Butterflies Australia. Working with butterfly collections, taxonomists have described and scientifically named the majority of Australia's estimated 465 species of butterflies.
Michael Braby knows them well. He wrote the definitive textbook on the identification, biology and distribution of Australia's butterflies in 2000 and is currently working on the third edition of the Field Guide. Braby has been reviewing the geographical ranges of Australian butterfly species and is finding nearly all the maps need to be updated.
"At least 100 species have undergone range changes during the past 20–30 years," Braby said. There can be different reasons for range changes: climate change or habitat changes accidental transport by people, sometimes thousands of kilometers from the butterfly's original home movement by migratory species, in which a small number of individuals have moved temporarily well beyond their normal breeding range invasions—at least three species (Lime Swallowtail, Tawny Costa, Cycad Blue) have invaded Australia from Southeast Asia and are spreading rapidly changes in our knowledge of where butterfly species live due to increased survey efforts in areas where butterflies had not been well studied Braby is especially interested in range shifts of sedentary butterfly species. "We've found at least 23 species that have definitely changed their range, some quite dramatically," Braby said.
"These species have moved into new areas southward along the eastern coast of Australia. "Some of these species may have gone locally extinct in the northern part of their range, but there is not enough monitoring data to say. "Most range shifters are species in the nymphalid and lycaenid families.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
