Fossil Butterflies: Memoirs of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, I.Scudder, Samuel Hubbard
Science
Fossil Butterflies: Memoirs of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, I.
Scudder, Samuel Hubbard
Butterflies, Fossil
The only butterfly found at Radoboj belonging to an extinct genus is
_Mylothrites Pluto_, and this is a member of the same general group as
Coliates, and feeds probably upon Leguminosæ; for it is not so closely
allied to Delias as Coliates is, but is more nearly related to Hebomoia,
one of whose species, found in the East Indias, feeds upon Capparis.[AP]
One species of Phaseolites, one of Sophora and four of Cassia, namely:
_C. hyberborea_ Ung., _C. phaseolites_ Ung., _C. lignitum_ Ung., and _C.
ambigua_ Ung., are recorded from Radoboj, and as Cassia is a favorite
food plant among the larger species of Danai at the present day, we
may fairly presume one of these Cassiæ to have afforded nourishment
to _Mylothrites Pluto_. Moreover, no less than thirty-one species of
Leguminosæ in general, or between a ninth and a tenth of the whole known
flora, are given by von Ettingshausen as occurring in Radoboj; so that in
any case our Mylothrites must have found abundance of palatable food.
The food of _Pontia Freyeri_ is doubtful. All the living species of the
genus so far as known, feed upon Cruciferæ; within this family they do
not seem to be at all particular, making use of a large number of genera,
but in only a single instance are they known to attack the leaves of a
genus (Reseda) belonging to an adjoining family. Cruciferæ, however, are
excessively rare in the tertiaries of Europe, two species only being
recorded, and this from the comparatively recent beds of Œningen. This
is unquestionably due simply to the nature of the plants themselves,
which scarcely could leave any trace of their existence; the almost
complete absence of the herbaceous families of plants, even in the later
tertiaries, is doubtless due to this fact. The plants nearest related to
the Cruciferæ found near the horizon of _Pontia Freyeri_ are a species
of Nelumbium from Günzbourg in the Mayencian, and of Terminalia (_T.
radobojensis_ Ung.)—one of the Calycifloræ, from Radoboj itself. Perhaps
in the absence of better evidence we may provisionally consider the
latter to have been the food plant of _P. Freyeri_.
A single Radoboj species remains, _Eugonia atava_. The recent species of
Eugonia feed particularly on Salix, Populus and Betula; also upon Ulmus,
and occasionally on Ribes, and even on Hippophae. The first three seem
however to be their proper food; and since the tertiaries of Radoboj
contain fossils of all these genera, we need look no farther. There
are specified: _Salix apollinis_ Ung., sp., _Populus latior_ Br., _P.
mutabilis_ Heer., _P. Heliadum_ Ung., _Betula Dryadum_ Brongn. and _B.
prisca_ Ett. Three species of Ulmus are also recorded from the same place.
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