BY OUR SPECIES REPORTERS

AN ENORMOUS species of butterfly, newly discovered in Papua New Guinea, has led scientists to theorize that severe weather events around the world may not all be the result of climate change.

The Lepidoptera Giganticus, with a wingspan of almost three metres, has been found to cause mini-cyclones in its immediate vicinity and is believed, when gathered in huge numbers for its mating season, to have an effect on weather events as far away as Africa and South America. Including El Nino and La Nina.

“Yes, the butterfly effect, that stalwart of chaos theory has had to be re-assessed, or at least magnified,” according to Dr Magnus Battenburg of Cause And Effect, a private research foundation which studies how chaotic systems disperse themselves with compounding effect. “Because, every three years, when these huge butterflies mate, they flap their wings with such fury, that it changes weather patterns in the Indian and Pacific oceans, and even the local climate. It’s remarkable to watch.”

The butterflies have had to be declared a protected species though, because their wings are known to contain a substance not unlike Marijuana, and are already a favourite delicacy among local tribes people. “Indeed, they’re quite the trip, I’d say,” says Battenburg, “so if they were to be hunted in significant numbers, we don’t know what kind of catastrophic effect it might have on weather and climate, in the region, or even across the planet.”