This specimen comes from a communal latrine in the lower Carnian deposits (∼236 Ma) of the Chañares Formation, La Rioja Province, northwestern Argentina. The tiny fossil scales are hollow and ornamented, which is a synapomorphy of Lepidoptera and suggests that they could belong to this group. If this is the case, the Chañares scales would partially fill the temporal mismatch between phylogenomic date and the fossil evidence of butterflies and moths because they preceded the previously oldest lepidopteran record by c. 35 million years. Moreover, the scales have a combination of features present in early diverging glossatan lepidopterans. The inclusion of the temporal data provided by the Chañares scales into an updated temporal calibration of lepidopteran phylogeny shows that the proboscis, a key evolutionary novelty for the group (Glossata), evolved between c. 260–244 Ma. Thus, the proboscis-bearing lepidopterans would be part of the repertory of new plants and animals that diversified during the aftermath of the EPME.
Well the molecular clocks put the divergence back to about 100 Ma to 66 Ma years ago.
From Wikipedia:
Molecular clock estimates suggest that butterflies originated sometime in the Late Cretaceous, but only significantly diversified during the Cenozoic,[10][1] with one study suggesting a North American origin for the group.[1
Can somebody explain the comment? They all look like butterflies, not moths
Oldest known butterfly fossils are 56 million years old. Moths are much older. The picture is of butterflies but the fossils are going to be moths.
Yeah, but 230 million years is/would be new info & older than thought.
Edit: o shit … with wings.
sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0895981125002469
Well the molecular clocks put the divergence back to about 100 Ma to 66 Ma years ago.
From Wikipedia:
thank you. long live the lepidopterans!