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
Excepting in a single case, there is then no difficulty in finding, in
the very hods in which the butterflies occur, remains of plants, which
in all probability served them as food during the larval stage; and even
in this single instance, a plant not far removed from those upon which
species of the genus now feed, occurs in the same strata.
PRESENT DISTRIBUTION OF BUTTERFLIES MOST NEARLY ALLIED TO FOSSIL SPECIES.
To discuss this question properly we must consider the butterflies of
each geological horizon separately.
BUTTERFLIES OF THE LIGURIAN (Upper Eocene).
The nearest living ally of _Neorinopis sepulta_ is, with little doubt,
_Neorina Lowi_, which, like the other members of the genus, is found in
the Indo-Malayan region. The same is strictly true of the species of
Zophoessa, Debis and Lethe, with which we have been obliged to compare
this fossil. Cœlites has also been used in comparison, and most of
the species of this group belong to the same region, although one is
described by Felder from Celebes on the confines of the Austro-Malayan
region. We have also pointed out (as Butler has done, but in incorrect
points) its relation to Antirrhæa, a Brazilian genus, but this is too
distant to be given much weight. The closest allies of _N. sepulta_ are
to be found in the Indo-Malayan region.
The same is true, but not to so striking a degree, of _Lethites
Reynesii_. We have compared this also to Debis, Lethe and Neorina, and
especially to the two former; and all three of these genera, which are
certainly its nearest allies, are strictly confined to the Indo-Malayan
region. It is, however, also related, but in a secondary degree, to
Enodia, Cercyonis and Maniola, which are genera appertaining to the north
temperate zone of both hemispheres.
_Coliates Proserpina_ finds its nearest living representatives in the
genus Delias, which also is strictly confined to the Indo-Malayan
region. Thyca and Prioneris are closely related, the latter of which
is limited to the same district and the former to the Indo-Malayan and
Austro-Malayan regions.
_Thaites Ruminiana_ is represented in recent times by the genus Thais,
which is confined to the Mediterranean district, within which Aix
lies. An allied genus, Archon, is also restricted to the same region.
Sericinus, however, and Eurycus, with which we have been obliged to
compare it in many points, are found only in the East, the former in
China, the latter in Australia; while on the other hand, Parnassius, a
genus it quite as much resembles, is limited to alpine and subarctic
regions of the northern hemisphere.
The relations of _Pamphilites abdita_ are very different. I have searched
carefully for very closely allied forms among East Indian Urbicolæ;
but, while it doubtless is not far removed from some of them, its more
intimate relationships are certainly with insects from tropical America
and especially with Pansydia and Carystus.
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