Fossil butterflies, calibration points and the molecular clock (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea)
Author
Jong, Rienk De
text
Zootaxa
2017
4270
1
1
63
journal article
32975
10.5281/zenodo.583183
6c479acc-8b18-4f0b-a6e5-85bcd6d7b6b7
1175-5326
583183
2D00AFF5-4FE2-4EC1-A328-C8670CFB8D6D
coulleti
.
Pseudoneorina coulleti
Nel & Descimon, 1984
Fig. 6.
Nymphalidae
:
Satyrinae
(subdivisions not yet generally agreed upon).
France, Dép. Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Céreste and Dauphin; Rupelian (= "Stampien"), early Oligocene.
Depositories:
holotype
from
Céreste
in
Collection Nel
,
La Ciotat
,
Bouches-du-Rhône
,
France
(nr 2486)
;
paratype
from
Céreste
in
Collection Coullet
,
Barrème
, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence,
France
; additional specimen from Dauphin in Collection Michel Henrotay (Liège, Belgium).
Published figures:
Henrotay (1986)
;
Murata (1998: Figs 7, 8)
;
Nel & Descimon (1984:
Figs 1–5
)
;
Nel & Nel (1986:
Fig. 2
e)
.
Three specimens, in varying states of preservation. Eyes naked. Forewing without vein 2A; radial formula 1, 2, 3+(4+5); stalk of R3-R5 and M1 originating from same spot at upper corner of cell; M2 at its base much closer to M1 than to M3; cell closed; base of Cu lightly swollen; rounded spot between M1 and M2; darker area between base, cubitus, M3 and hind margin, extending from base to about two-thirds towards termen; outer margin probably straight. Hindwing with Sc+R1 arising far from base: distance from base to Sc
3.6 mm
, from Sc to Rs
4.5 mm
; cell closed; round dark spot between Cu1 and Cu2 (according to the original description and in their photograph
Figure 2
A and in the reconstruction in
Figure 5
; in the description, it is given as between Cu1 and M3); outer margin possibly extended tail-like at the end of M3 (as it is in extant
Neorina
; in fig. 5 at the end of Cu1), but since the relevant part of the wing is absent in the fossil, this is speculative.
In their well-documented discussion the authors conclude that the fossil is close to the recent genus
Neorina
(
Nymphalidae
,
Satyrinae
), but differs in the origin of Sc in the hindwing being further from base than in any recent satyrine butterfly: in
Pseudoneorina
Sc
originates at 44.4% of distance from base to Rs, further than in any extant species, in
Neorina
it originates at almost 22% of this distance. Apparently this feature was an autapomorphic character that was lost with the extinction of the taxon.
The venational characters of the fossil as well as the position of the rounded spots (in extant satyrines eyespots), although agreeing with extant
Neorina
, can be found in other extant genera as well, e.g.
Zophoessa
(considered a subjective synonym of
Lethe
[subtribe
Lethina
of
Satyrini
] by
Wahlberg & Peña 2015
), but to belong to another tribe,
Elymniini
, in the classification accepted at the Natural History Museum, London, www.nhm.ac.uk/ our-science/data/butmoth/, which follows the database Lamas_Genera_
04ii08.
xls.
Wahlberg & Peña (2015)
classify
Pseudoneorina
within the subtribe
Lethina
, and
Neorina
as belonging to another tribe,
Zetherini
. Earlier
Neorina
was also placed outside
Satyrini
, as sister taxon to
Penthema
, in a clade that is sister taxon to
Amathusiini
(
Wahlberg
et al
. 2009
). According to
Miller (1968)
Neorina
belongs to the Lethini, in which it, with its closest relatives, is mainly diagnosed by possessing naked eyes, a character found frequently throughout the butterflies and not very indicative of relationship. As long as there are no apomorphies known that unambiguously support relationships, I would hesitate to classify the fossil either as belonging to
Satyrini
or to
Zetherini
(see also Figures 18–20 under
Neorinopsis
sepulta
, for the still unsettled interrelationhips among the tribes of
Satyrinae
).
A fossil from another locality about
18 km
to the east, Dauphin (Dép. Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), Lower Oligocene, Stampien (= Rupelian), ca. 30 Ma, was figured but not named by
Henrotay (1986)
. It was recognized as belonging to the same taxon by André Nel, co-author of the name (pers. comm. Henrotay,
16 Dec. 2015
).