Butterflies Consume Live Young to Increase Supply of Mating Pheromones

Milkweed butterflies have been caught eating live caterpillars for the first time, and these caterpillars turn out to be the young of their own species. Researchers said the insects do this so that their supply of mating pheromones will be increased. The behavior of a butterfly towards a species belonging to their own subfamily - Danainae - is included in the latest findings that bring up questions in insect evolutionary theory