Austin Butterfly Forum Meeting

Mon Sep 28 – Club Meeting: Darwin, Wallace, and Butterflies. Dan Hardy.

This year is the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth. Dan Hardy will present the history behind Charles Darwin’s and Alfred Russel Wallace’s discovery of evolution and natural selection, their explorations of the globe and their view of the natural world, a view that is in so many ways still with us.

What about butterflies? For Wallace, butterflies were more than objects of beauty and study; they were a way to make money! Wallace financed his travels by collecting the butterflies that buyers in England wanted. Darwin used the surprising phenomenon of mimicry in butterflies as evidence for evolution and natural selection. But mimics also posed challenges to the theory, and Darwin and Wallace parted ways in how they would answer those puzzles.

Come join the Austin Butterfly Forum as Dan Hardy explores these fascinating topics!
Zilker Botanical Garden Center, 7:00pm.