Fossil butterflies and the evolution of Lepidoptera

The meager Cenozoic fossil record of butterflies is traced.Although pre-Tertiary fossils are so-far lacking, their development likely paralleled that of their angiosperm foodplants which probably arose in Early Meso¬ zoic or Late Paleozoic times.The geological and morphological evidence herein suggests that primitive moths originated in the Permian, with prim¬ itive butterflies evolving from the Castnioid line soon thereafter, sometime in the Triassic.The major radiation of Lepidopteran families was already completed by the Upper Jurassic-Early Cretaceous when continental drift began, judging by their present-day, world-wide distribution.