Fossil butterflies, calibration points and the molecular clock (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea)
Author
Jong, Rienk De
text
Zootaxa
2017
4270
1
1
63
journal article
32975
10.5281/zenodo.583183
6c479acc-8b18-4f0b-a6e5-85bcd6d7b6b7
1175-5326
583183
2D00AFF5-4FE2-4EC1-A328-C8670CFB8D6D
spec.
Pierella
(teste Warren 2015)
Nymphalidae
:
Satyrinae
:
Haeterini
:
Pierella
.
Colombia
,
Santander Department
, copal; Holocene/Pleistocene
Depository: FMNH.
The specimen is a remarkably well-preserved fossil, so much that A.D. Warren (pers. comm.), who saw the specimen in July, 2015, thought it was a fake. According to Warren it exactly resembles the extant
Pierella helvina
Hewitson
(
Nymphalidae
:
Satyrinae
), which is distributed from
Nicaragua
to
Ecuador
with
Colombia
being the
type
locality, except for the reddish color of the extant species. However, the fossil has not yet been studied in detail. In view of the young age of the fossil it is of little interest for calibration of the molecular clock, except for the evolution within the genus
Pierella
.