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Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the largest butterflies in the world, the birdwing butterflies of the genus Ornithoptera.
Leptictidium is an extinct genus of small mammals that were likely bipedal. Comprising eight species, they resembled today's bilbies, bandicoots, and elephant shrews. They are especially interesting for their combination of characteristics typical of primitive eutherians with highly specialized adaptations, such as powerful hind legs and a long tail which aided in locomotion. They were omnivorous, their diet a combination of insects, lizards and small mammals. Lepticidium and other lepticids are not placentals, but are non-placentral eutherians, although closely related. They appeared in the Lower Eocene, a time of warm temperatures and high humidity, roughly fifty million years ago. Although they were widespread throughout Europe, they became extinct around thirty-five million years ago with no descendants, probably because they were adapted to live in forest ecosystems and were unable to adapt to the open plains of the Oligocene.
Baronia brevicornis, commonly known as the short-horned baronia, is a species of butterfly in the monotypic genus Baronia and is placed in a subfamily of its own, the Baroniinae, a sister group of the remainder of the swallowtail butterflies. It is endemic to a very small area of Mexico, where the distribution is patchy and restricted.
Ankalagon saurognathus is an extinct carnivorous mammal of the family Mesonychidae, endemic to North America during the Paleocene epoch, existing for approximately 3.1 million years.
Priscacara, is a genus of extinct temperate bass described from Early to Middle Eocene fossils. It is characterized by a sunfish-like body and its stout dorsal and anal spines. The genus is best known from the Green River Formation of Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. Mass deaths of Priscacara suggest it formed schools.
Florissantia is an extinct genus of flowering plants in the Malvaceae subfamily Sterculioideae known from western North America and far eastern Asia. Flower, fruit, and pollen compression fossils have been found in formations ranging between the Early Eocene through to the Early Oligocene periods. The type species is Florissantia speirii and three additional species are known, Florissantia ashwillii, Florissantia quilchenensis, and Florissantia sikhote-alinensis.
Prodryas persephone is an extinct species of brush-footed butterfly, known from a single specimen from the Chadronian-aged Florissant Shale Lagerstatte of Late Eocene Colorado. P. persephone is the first fossil butterfly to be found in North America, and is exquisitely well preserved. Its closest extant relatives are the mapwings and African admirals of the genera Hypanartia and Antanartia, respectively.
Palaeovespa is an extinct genus of wasp in the Vespidae subfamily Vespinae. The genus currently contains eight species, five from the Priabonian stage Florissant Formation in Colorado, United States two from the middle Eocene Baltic amber deposits of Europe. and one species from the late Paleocene of France.
Prehistoric Lepidoptera are both butterflies and moths that lived before recorded history. The fossil record for Lepidoptera is lacking in comparison to other winged species, and tending not to be as common as some other insects in the habitats that are most conducive to fossilization, such as lakes and ponds, and their juvenile stage has only the head capsule as a hard part that might be preserved. Yet there are fossils, some preserved in amber and some in very fine sediments. Leaf mines are also seen in fossil leaves, although the interpretation of them is tricky. Putative fossil stem group representatives of Amphiesmenoptera are known from the Triassic.
Dominickus is an extinct genus of moth in the butterfly-moth family Castniidae containing a single species Dominickus castnioides. The species is known from late Eocene, Priabonian stage, lake deposits near the small community of Guffey in Teller County, Colorado, United States.
Protostephanus is an extinct genus of crown wasp in the Hymenoptera family Stephanidae known from an Eocene fossil found in the United States of America. The genus contains a single described species, Protostephanus ashmeadi placed in the stephanid subfamily Stephaninae.
Eulithomyrmex is an extinct genus of ant in the formicid subfamily Agroecomyrmecinae. The genus contains two described species, Eulithomyrmex rugosus and Eulithomyrmex striatus. Eulithomyrmex is known from a group of Late Eocene fossils which were found in North America.
Aphaenogaster donisthorpei is an extinct species of ant in formicid subfamily Myrmicinae known from a Late Eocene fossil from North America. A. donisthorpei was one of two Aphaenogaster species described in the 1930 paper.
Aphaenogaster mayri is an extinct species of ant in formicid subfamily Myrmicinae known from a series of Late Eocene fossils found in North America. A. mayri was one of two Aphaenogaster species described in a 1930 paper by Frank M. Carpenter.
Archiponera is an extinct genus of ant in the formicid subfamily Ponerinae. The genus contains a single described species, Archiponera wheeleri known from several Late Eocene fossils which were found in North America.
Priabona is an extinct genus of big-headed flies in the dipteran subfamily Nephrocerinae, within which it is one of only two genera. The genus contains a single described species, Priabona florissantius. Priabona is known from a single Late Eocene fossil from western North America.
Sivaladapis is a genus of adapiform primate that lived in Asia during the middle Miocene.
Holcorpa is a genus of extinct insects in the scorpionfly order Mecoptera. Two Eocene age species found in Western North America were placed into the genus, H. dillhoffi and H. maculosa.
Myanmyrma is an extinct genus of ants not placed into any Formicidae subfamily. Fossils of the single known species, Myanmyrma gracilis, are known from the Middle Cretaceous of Asia. The genus is one of several ants described from Middle Cretaceous ambers of Myanmar.
Florissantia is an extinct monotypic genus of planthopper in the dictyopharid subfamily Dictyopharinae. The single species, Florissantia elegans, was described by Samuel Hubbard Scudder (1890) from fossils found in the Florissant Formation of Colorado.
References
- 1 2 Durden, C.J., and H. Rose. 1978. Butterflies from the middle Eocene: the earliest occurrence of fossil Papilionidae (Lepidoptera). Pearce-Sellards Ser. Tex. Mem. Mus. 29: 1-25.
- ↑ Rienk de Jong (2007). "Estimating time and space in the evolution of the Lepidoptera" (PDF). Tijdschrift voor Entomologie . 150 (2): 319–346. doi:10.1163/22119434-900000233.
- ↑ Collins, N. Mark; Morris, Michael G. (1985). Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World: The IUCN Red Data Book. Gland & Cambridge: IUCN. ISBN 978-2-88032-603-6 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
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