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 abdita . Pamphilites abdita Scudder, 1875 Hesperiidae : Hesperiinae . France, Bouches-du-Rhône, Aix-en-Provence; Chattian–Aquitanian, Late Oligocene–early Miocene. Depositories: MVMF (holotype lost); MNHN (neotype: IPM B-24308). Published figures: Scudder (1875: Pl. III, Figs. 14, 17, 18); Leestmans (1983: Figs 11, 12 ) ; Nel & Nel (1986: Fig. 1 a-b, Pl. I Fig. 1 ) . One forewing only. All veins originate from the cell, showing attribution of the fossil to the Hesperiidae ; the character recurs in a few subordinate taxa in other superfamilies, but associated with different wing shape. Origin of M2 closer to M3 than to M1, within the Hesperiidae a unique but non-universal character of the Hesperiinae ( Ackery et al . 1999 ). Wing shape and spotting agree with this subfamily. Scudder thought it probable that the fossil wing belonged to a female, apparently only because he found a resemblance with Pansydia mesogramma Latreille (now in Atalopedes ), a species of the Greater Antilles in which the male has a stigma. The fossil wing lacks any trace of a stigma, but so do the males of many Hesperiinae . Scudder also found a resemblance with Carystus lucasii (Fabricius) , now Turesis lucas (Fabricius) , a South American species. Therefore, he decided a South American relationship for this European fossil. Scudder remarked that R4 terminated on the termen close to the apex. I have not seen this condition in any Hesperiidae , R4 always terminating on the costa just or well before the apex. The type of the fossil species seems to be lost, and Nel & Nel (1986) designated a neotype that seems to be conspecific with it. They correctly remarked that the venation and markings agree with numerous extant Hesperiinae species in the Old World and New World , so that a South American affinity of the fossil species is not obvious. If used for calibration, the fossil should be used as an estimated minimum age for the root of Hesperiinae .