#glossata

A team of paleontologists affiliated with several institutions in Argentina, working with a colleague from the U.K., has discovered evidence of scales from lepidopterans in dung samples recovered from a dig site in Talampaya National Park, Argentina. In their paper published in the Journal of South American Earth Sciences, the group describes how they found the scales in the dung samples and what the find means for scientists who study butterflies and moths.

Cup moth caterpillar (Limacodidae)

Grass moth (Cirrhochrista sp.)

Grass moth (Glyphodes stolalis)

Cup moth (Limacodidae)

The Wizard (Rhinopalpa polynice)