Oligodonta florissantensis

Jong, Rienk De, 2017, Fossil butterflies, calibration points and the molecular clock (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea), Zootaxa 4270 (1), pp. 1-63 : 26

florissantensis . Oligodonta florissantensis Brown, 1976

Fig. 8.

Nymphalidae : Libytheinae .

USA, Colorado , Florissant; late Priabonian, late Eocene.

Depository: FFNM (holotype).

Published figures: Brown (1976: Figs 1–3 ); Emmel et al. (1992: Fig. 1 /2, and at back of color plate III); Kawahara (2013: Fig. 62).

For a good description and interpretation of the fossil, see Kawahara (2013).This author synonymized it with Barbarothea florissanti (see below) and placed it in the extant genus Libytheana (Nymphalidae) , see description below. It was placed in the Pieridae by Brown (1976) (followed by Emmel et al. 1992), because of the unjustly supposed similarity with Leodonta . Subsequently, Braby et al. (2006) used the fossil as calibration point on the phylogenetic tree of the Pieridae as a close relative of the Catasticta group, if not the genus Leodonta .

Figures

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

FIGURE 2. Apomorphies, their placement on a tree, and the assignment of calibration points. See text for explanation.

FIGURES 3 – 4. Wing venation of (A) Pareronia Bingham, 1907 (Pieridae), and (B) Hasora Moore, 1881 (Hesperiidae). See text for explanation.