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Article: Exquisite fossils show butterflies appeared before there were flowers to pollinate


Andy Perrin

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Exquisite fossils show butterflies appeared before there were flowers to pollinate

 

“The two paleontologists dissolving rock cores more than 200 million years old were looking for vestiges of freshwater algae. Instead, tiny fragments of insect scales caught their eye — remnants that a report published Wednesday identifies as the oldest evidence of butterflies and moths.

 

A series of fortunate events led to this discovery, which dates the insects to around 70 million years earlier than previously known, well before there were flowers around that they could pollinate.”

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/01/10/exquisite-fossils-show-butterflies-appeared-before-there-were-flowers-to-pollinate/?utm_term=.cbd8117d98b0

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So interesting!

 

I wonder what the butterflies lived on if no flower nectar?

Maybe they were "pre"-butterfiles, like dinosaur-butterflies, instead of the kind we know today.

 

oh, towards end of article pine cone pollen was mentioned as possible food.

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