Scientists have discovered the specific mutation that famously turned moths black during the Industrial Revolution. In an iconic evolutionary case study, a black form of the peppered moth rapidly ...

The adult peppered moth is famous for a completely different color journey; After soot from the Industrial Revolution darkened tree bark in Britain, peppered moths there evolved to be darker, too.

The peppered moth has a lot of variation. They can be white and speckled (B. betularia f. typica) to almost entirely black (B. betularia f. carbonaria). In the 19th century, collectors in Britain ...

The Peppered Moth, Biston betularia, is a relatively common, although declining, night-flying moth found in varying numbers ...

By the early 19th century, however, soot from the industrial revolution had forged a new evolutionary environment, one that favored dark-­colored moths, which matched the soot-­covered trees ...

The same gene that turned peppered moths black to camouflage them during the industrial pollution is also behind colour variation in bright tropical butterflies, research shows.

In an iconic evolutionary case study, a black form of the peppered moth rapidly took over in industrial parts of the UK during the 1800s, as soot blackened the tree trunks and walls of its habitat.