A Record-Breaking 2600 Miles – First Recorded Atlantic Crossing by Butterflies

Scientists at CSIC have documented a 4200 km oceanic flight from West Africa to French Guiana in South America.
An international team of researchers, led by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), has documented a transoceanic flight of more than 4200 km (2600 miles) by painted lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui), setting a record for an insect.

The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, involved researchers from the Botanical Institute of Barcelona (IBB), a joint center of the CSIC and the Natural Sciences Museum of Barcelona, as well as from the W. Szafer Botanical Institute (Poland), the University of Ottawa (Canada), the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE, CSIC-Universitat Pompeu Fabra), and Harvard University (USA).