100 Million Years Ago

[James Hanlon]

The other night I was thinking about how many similarities there were with 
respect to the butterflies of the African tropics and the butterflies of the 
South American tropics. There are of course different species, of Charaxinae 
for example, with different wing coloration in African versus South American 
species, yet there still exists great similarities with respect to the basic 
body structure and wing design. 

Without knowing anything about the assumed age of butterflies or the estimates 
by scientist of how long butterflies have inhabited the earth, and without 
having any information with respect to the estimated time that the African 
continent and the South American continent were assumed to be connected, I 
surmised that butterflies must surely have inhabited the earth as long ago as 
when those two great continents were fused. And as soon as the continents 
separated and began their respective continental drifts, that the butterflies 
of each continent then proceeded with their own individual and unique 
evolutions.

After this thought, I looked in a relatively recent Atlas which suggested that 
the two continents were most likely connected some 80 million years ago. Not 
that long ago when you think about the possibility of infinity. I then 
proceeded to see what James Scott had to say about the subject in The 
Butterflies of North America, and Mr. Scott has quite a bit to say about the 
subject and he immediately supported my initial guess suggesting that 
butterflies had been around at least 80-100 million years at a time when all 
of the continents were more or less one large super continent. 

It would be interesting to know just how much butterflies have evolved in the 
last 80 million years but it seems that these fragile creatures would be 
difficult to find in a preserved state. Does anyone know of the oldest 
recorded butterfly specimen? Where was it found, in amber possibly? Or have 
there been any noticeable evolutionary changes since the first collected 
specimen? Which leads to another question which is how old is the oldest 
collected specimen versus discovered fossilized specimen? I know that 
Aristotle collected plants. You got to hand it to old Aristotle. After all he 
didn't exactly have a Peterson Field Guide to get himself started. Which leads 
to one last historical question which is who if anyone did inspire Aristotle 
to study natural history?

Actually one last question, D'Abrera in the Butterflies of the NeoTropical 
Regions Parts 1-7 is always going off on some philosophical tangent about his 
beliefs or disbeliefs in the theory of evolution. Does anyone know where 
DÁbrera is coming from or even basically just what his beliefs on the subject 
are?

Rain Forest Energy,

Jim Hanlon
Los Angeles, California