Prodryas persephone
- Date
- c. 1878 · confidence low
- Place
- Florissant, Colorado, United States
- Credited to
- Charlotte Hill y Samuel Hubbard Scudder
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
Prodryas persephone is an extinct species of brush-footed butterfly, found in the Florissant Shale Formation (Colorado) and described by Samuel Hubbard Scudder; it is the first butterfly fossil found in North America and one of the best preserved.
What it led to
- study of the evolution of fossil butterflies
- reference point for Florissant insect paleontology
- comparison with living genera such as Hypanartia and Antanartia
- boost to North American paleoentomology