dramba. Voltinia dramba Hall, Robbins & Harvey, 2004 Riodinidae: Riodininae: Mesosemiini: Voltinea. Dominican Republic, Cordillera Septentrional between Santiago and Puerto Plata, Dominican amber; Burdigalian, early Miocene. Depositories: USNM (holotype); Murata coll., Kyota, Japan (paratype); Morrone coll., Torino, Italy (paratype); AMNH (one specimen, DR-18-1). Published figures: Hall et al. (2004: Fig. 1); Peñalver & Grimaldi (2006: Figs 1, 2). The fossil was described by Hall et al. (2004) as a member of the extant genus Voltinia (Riodinidae) after five female specimens "that collectively represent probably the best-preserved fossil record for any lepidopteran." An additional fossil specimen belonging to the same taxon was described by Peñalver & Grimaldi (2006). Because of the exceptionally good quality of the fossils, there is little reason to doubt its taxonomic position, the more so since Hall (2003) had published a phylogenetic reassessment based on morphology of the tribes of Riodininae, the genus Voltinia belongs to, and thus, characters of all related extant genera were well known and evaluated. Very recently an extensive molecular phylogenetic analysis of the family was published (Espeland et al. 2015) covering all subfamilies, tribes and subtribes, and 98 out of 145 described genera of the Riodinidae, including Voltinia. The taxonomic position of the fossil was used as one of the calibration points (placed at the common stem of Voltinia and Napaea), with an age of 15–25 Ma as given by Hall et al. (2004). Since the Burdigalian lasted from 20.43 Ma to 15.97 Ma, the latter (younger) age should be used for calibration. However, recent studies, soon to be published, suggest that the allocation of the fossil needs revision (Noemy Seraphim Pereira, pers. comm.), and it may be wise to postpone the use of the fossil for calibration until its position is better known.

Published as part of Jong, Rienk De, 2017, Fossil butterflies, calibration points and the molecular clock (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea), pp. 1-63 in Zootaxa 4270 (1) on pages 25-26, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.583183