Pamphilites abdita

Jong, Rienk De, 2017, Fossil butterflies, calibration points and the molecular clock (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea), Zootaxa 4270 (1), pp. 1-63 : 15

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 .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Localities of fossil butterflies plotted ion a modern map. See Table 1 for further, complementary information.

FIGURES 11 – 13. Ƒanessa pluto Heer, 1849. Figures copied from (1875), Plate II, figures 1, 17 and 7, respectively. (A), copied by Scudder from original description by Heer; (B) and (C), figures sent to Scudder by Mr. Brunner de Wattenwyl, made after the same object. Note differences in wing shape and other details. Figs 14 – 16. Thaites ruminiana Scudder, 1875. Figures copied from Scudder (1875), Plate III, figures 9, 1 and 3, respectively. (A), underside of fossil; (B), reconstruction of venation; (C), reconstruction of markings. In (A) two separate subcostal veins have been drawn in the forewing, an impossible configuration in Lepidoptera, and apparently a mistake, corrected in (B) and (C). Fig. 17. Cyllo sepulta Boisduval, 1841, wing venation after Scudder (1875). Fig. 18. Butterfly fossil recorded by Wangrin (1939), but shown to be a fraud by Ansorge (2015). Photo kindly provided by J. Ansorge, Horst, Germany (see text for explanation).