A Blue Tiger Butterfly has been found in Majorca for the first time ever.
The Tirumala limniace, which is native to South and Southeast Asia, has both light and dark colours on its wings. Experts believe that high-intensity light, which is absorbed by the dark areas of the wings, makes it possible for the Blue Tiger Butterfly to fly further.
The butterfly was already dead when it was found by a local resident in Santa Eugènia who had previously seen Blue Tiger Butterflies during a trip to India.
Samuel Pinya, professor of Biology and principal investigator of the Interdisciplinary Ecology Group of the Balearics Universtiy, explained that "it is difficult to know how this butterfly arrived in Majorca, which is quite strange, although we could handle three hypotheses: from the transport of goods or live plants, it had from a private collection or for the recent fashion of releasing of butterflies at weddings and other social events".
The first two hypotheses are usually the explanation when it comes to the presence of invasive or exotic species in the Islands, but the third one is beginning to worry scientists, as they are carried out without any control or regulations in this respect.