New data on Miocene butterflies in Dominican amber (Lepidoptera, Riodinidae and Nymphalidae) with the description of a new nymphalid

Title Variants

Alternative: Miocene amber butterflies

Related Titles

Series: American Museum novitates, no. 3519

By

Peñalver, Enrique

Grimaldi, David A.

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

New York, NY American Museum of Natural History c2006

Notes

Title from caption.

"July 31, 2006."

A new, virtually complete and well-preserved female specimen of Voltinia dramba Hall, Robbins, and Harvey, 2004 (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae) provides new data on this fossil species, and a new fossil species of the Recent genus of Nymphalidae Dynamine Hübner, 1819 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) is described as Dynamine alexae n.sp., on the basis of a male specimen. The two species are preserved in Miocene amber from the Dominican Republic. Dynamine alexae n.sp. represents the first adult nymphalid butterfly found as a fossil in amber. The four taxa of butterflies found up to the present in Dominican amber indicate post-Miocene extinctions in Hispaniola, probably caused by insularization. The butterflies found in Dominican amber do not support a hypothesis of a Gondwanan origin for many butterfly tribes and subfamilies as previously proposed; we conclude that this hypothesis is implausible based on the age of the butterflies as inferred from the fossil record. Some palaeoecologic and taphonomic questions are discussed.

Subjects

Amber fossils , Butterflies, Fossil , Dominican Republic , Dynamine alexae , Insects, Fossil , Miocene , Paleoecology , Paleontology , taphonomy , Voltinia dramba

Call Number

QL1 .A436 no.3519, 2006

Language

English

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0082(2006)3519[1:NDOMBI]2.0.CO;2
OCLC: 70806095