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Exceptionally preserved Oligocene emperor butterfly from France provides a new calibration point for Apaturinae evolution

Rajaei, Hossein ; Wappler, Torsten ; de Jong, Rienk ; Wahlberg, Niklas LU and Engel, Michael S. (2026) In Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 71(1). p.185-191
Abstract

A new genus and species of emperor butterfly (Nymphalidae, Apaturinae) is described based on an exceptionally well-preserved specimen from the "Calcaire de Campagne Calavon" limestone of southern France (early Oligocene age, approximately 34–28 Mya). Most parts of the right wings and upper parts of the left wings are visible, with complete venation and even wing patterns. The head and thorax are clearly visible from both sides, and most of the abdomen is preserved. Apaturoides monikae gen. et sp. nov., is compared to all genera of the subfamily and based on the form of the wings and venation is considered most similar to species of Apatura, today occurring widely in Palearctic, excluding North Africa and Middle East. This discovery... (More)

A new genus and species of emperor butterfly (Nymphalidae, Apaturinae) is described based on an exceptionally well-preserved specimen from the "Calcaire de Campagne Calavon" limestone of southern France (early Oligocene age, approximately 34–28 Mya). Most parts of the right wings and upper parts of the left wings are visible, with complete venation and even wing patterns. The head and thorax are clearly visible from both sides, and most of the abdomen is preserved. Apaturoides monikae gen. et sp. nov., is compared to all genera of the subfamily and based on the form of the wings and venation is considered most similar to species of Apatura, today occurring widely in Palearctic, excluding North Africa and Middle East. This discovery provides an important calibration point based on direct fossil evidence for estimating relationships and divergence estimates among emperor butterflies.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Apaturinae, France, Lepidoptera, new genus, new species, Nymphalidae, Oligocene, Papilionoidea
in
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica
volume
71
issue
1
pages
7 pages
publisher
Instytut Paleobiologii PAN
external identifiers
  • scopus:105034418685
ISSN
0567-7920
DOI
10.4202/app.01332.2026
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2026 H. Rajaei et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (for details please see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
id
05bc92ad-f0f6-4bea-9d12-7f0cabda7055
date added to LUP
2026-06-22 16:17:47
date last changed
2026-06-29 14:47:15
@article{05bc92ad-f0f6-4bea-9d12-7f0cabda7055,
  abstract     = {{<p>A new genus and species of emperor butterfly (Nymphalidae, Apaturinae) is described based on an exceptionally well-preserved specimen from the "Calcaire de Campagne Calavon" limestone of southern France (early Oligocene age, approximately 34–28 Mya). Most parts of the right wings and upper parts of the left wings are visible, with complete venation and even wing patterns. The head and thorax are clearly visible from both sides, and most of the abdomen is preserved. Apaturoides monikae gen. et sp. nov., is compared to all genera of the subfamily and based on the form of the wings and venation is considered most similar to species of Apatura, today occurring widely in Palearctic, excluding North Africa and Middle East. This discovery provides an important calibration point based on direct fossil evidence for estimating relationships and divergence estimates among emperor butterflies.</p>}},
  author       = {{Rajaei, Hossein and Wappler, Torsten and de Jong, Rienk and Wahlberg, Niklas and Engel, Michael S.}},
  issn         = {{0567-7920}},
  keywords     = {{Apaturinae; France; Lepidoptera; new genus; new species; Nymphalidae; Oligocene; Papilionoidea}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{185--191}},
  publisher    = {{Instytut Paleobiologii PAN}},
  series       = {{Acta Palaeontologica Polonica}},
  title        = {{Exceptionally preserved Oligocene emperor butterfly from France provides a new calibration point for Apaturinae evolution}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4202/app.01332.2026}},
  doi          = {{10.4202/app.01332.2026}},
  volume       = {{71}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}