Lithopsyche is a genus of fossil butterflies known from Oligocene-aged strata of the Isle of Wight, England. The sole specimen is too incomplete to allow a certain assignment of a family, but it was placed on its description as a geometrid and more recently in the Riodininae.
| Lithopsyche Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Illustration by Frederick William Frohawk | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Superfamily: | Papilionoidea |
| Family: | incertae sedis |
| Genus: | †Lithopsyche Butler, 1889 |
| Species: | †L. antiqua
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Lithopsyche antiqua Butler, 1889
| |
The late Eocene-aged Lithodryas styx, of Colorado, was originally described with the same genus name.
References
edit- Butler, A. G. (1889). "Description of a new Genus of Fossil Moths of the Family Euschemidæ". Proceedings of the General Meetings for Scientific Business of the Zoological Society of London.
- Cockerell, T. D. A. (1915). "British Fossil Insects" (PDF). Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum. 49 (21): 469–499. doi:10.5479/si.00963801.49-2119.469. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 June 2012.
- Hall, J. P. W.; Robbins, R. K.; Harvey, D. J. (2004). "Extinction and biogeography in the Caribbean: New evidence from a fossil riodinid butterfly in Dominican amber". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 271 (1541): 797–801. doi:10.1098/rspb.2004.2691. PMC 1691661. PMID 15255097.
 | This butterfly-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This prehistoric Lepidoptera-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |