Pamphilites

Pamphilites is an extinct genus of skippers in the family Hesperiidae. It contains only one fossil species, Pamphilites abdita, recovered from the Tertiary of Aix-en-Provence, France.[1]

Pamphilites Temporal range: Lower Oligocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Hesperiidae
Subfamily:	Hesperiinae
Genus:	†Pamphilites
Species:	†P. abdita
Binomial name
†Pamphilites abdita Scudder, 1875

Discovery

Pamphilites abdita was described in 1875 by the American entomologist and paleontologist Samuel Hubbard Scudder. The fossil was a single forewing recovered from the Lower Oligocene in Aix-en-Provence, France. The fossil wing is believed to have belonged to a female as it was lacking a prominent stigma (a patch of androconial scales).[2]

The type specimen, however, has since been lost.[2]

Taxonomy

Based on the shape and venation of the fossil wing, Scudder classified it as belonging to the subfamily Hesperiinae of the skipper butterfly family (Hesperiidae). Skipper butterflies belong to the superfamily Hesperioidea of the order Lepidoptera.[2][3]

See also

• Prehistoric Lepidoptera

References

1. "Pamphilites Scudder, 1875". Natural History Museum. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
2. Rienk de Jong (2007). "Estimating time and space in the evolution of the Lepidoptera" (PDF). Tijdschrift voor Entomologie (150): 319–346. ISSN 0040-7496. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
3. Andrew D. Warren; Joshua R. Ogawa & Andrew V. Z. Brower (2008). "Phylogenetic relationships of subfamilies and circumscription of tribes in the family Hesperiidae (Lepidoptera: Hesperioidea)" (PDF). Cladistics. 24 (24): 1–35. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.567.856. doi:10.1111/j.1096-0031.2008.00218.x. Retrieved July 13, 2011.