Researchers work with Jurassic fossils from China have discovered insects with remarkably butterfly - corresponding lineament , even though the species vanish some 40 to 50 million year before the show of the earliest “ true ” butterflies . Called kalligrammatid lacewing fly , these butterfly tone - alikes are only distantly come to to today ’s fluttery crowned head and viceroys – making lacewing fly and butterflies a striking example of convergent development , concord to finding put out inProceedings of the Royal Society Blast week .
Kalligrammatid lacewing appeared in the Eurasian fogey record 165 million age ago , and they disappeared 45 million age later . The origins of butterfly stroke , like the ones we have today , engagement back to 70 or 80 million years ago – long after kalligrammatids became extinct . However , poorly preserved kalligrammatid fogey think of that we did n’t experience exactly how they count or what they eat .
In the last decade or so , well - preserved kalligrammatid fossil were key out in the Middle Jurassic and former Cretaceous lake depository of northeastern China . And now , Smithsonian Institution’sConrad Labandeiraand colleagues were able to examine specimen from 17 kalligrammatid genus using various technique such as scanning negatron microscopy and electron distribution spectroscopy .
The body form , anatomic structure , and ecologic roles of Cenozoic butterfly were already present in the mid - Mesozoic fossil record . Extinct lacewing had severally evolved offstage shell , eyespots on backstage that likely stop melanin , and the familiar long , cannular mouthpart ring the proboscis . This suggest the two distantly - concern lineages had converged on a similar mode of eating and similar associations with seed - producing plants .
Kalligrammatid lacewing fly are some of the major planet ’s first cognise pollinators , and they were accessing ancient cycad and coniferous tree long before butterfly stroke were doing the same with blossom plants . Both kalligrammatids and many of the non - flowering plants they feed on break down extinct in good order around the time flowering plants commence to dominate some 100 million years ago . Butterflies showed up to make full those ancient roles some 50 million year later .
On the left , a modern owl butterfly stroke ( Caligo memnon ) , and on the right , a fossilized kalligrammatid lacewing ( Oregramma illecebrosa ) . Some of the convergent have they severally evolved include wing eyespots and wing scales . butterfly stroke photograph by James Di Loreto and fogey photo by Conrad Labandeira and Jorge Santiago - Blay
