Florissant, southwestern portion (Eocene of the United States)

Where: Teller County, Colorado (38.9° N, 105.3° W: paleocoordinates 40.4° N, 97.0° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: Florissant Formation, Chadronian (37.2 - 33.9 Ma)

Environment/lithology: lacustrine - large; lithified, diatomaceous, tuffaceous shale

• "shales"

Size class: mesofossils

Preservation: adpression

Collected in the 1930s

• Was collected in the early 1930's from the southwestern portion of the present Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, presented as a gift to tour guide Fred Bischoff leading groups through the area.

Primary reference: J. Y. Miller and F. M. Brown. 1989. A new Oligocene fossil butterfly, Vanessa amerindica (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae), from the Florissant Formation, Colorado. Bulletin of the Allyn Museum 126:1-9 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham/M. Clapham]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 122978: authorized by Matthew Clapham, entered by Matthew Clapham on 08.01.2012

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Insecta
 Lepidoptera - Nymphalidae
Vanessa amerindica n. sp. Miller and Brown 1989 brush-footed butterfly
UF 21999, on loan to Allyn Museum