''Voltinia dramba'' is a fossil metalmark

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

, found in pieces of

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...

in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

on the island of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and th ...

in 2004. The butterfly, belonging to the extant genus '' Voltinia'', is the first species to be taxonomically described from amber and the first true fossil of an adult riodinid. Five specimens, all females, were found in pieces of amber from the resin of the extinct leguminous tree ''

Hymenaea protera ''Hymenaea protera'' is an extinct prehistoric leguminous tree, the probable ancestor of present-day ''Hymenaea'' species. Most neotropical ambers come from its fossilized resin, including the famous Dominican amber. ''H. protera'' once grew in ...

'' (Poinar 1991). Also, the genus ''Voltinia'' contains nine heterogeneous species that range from Mexico to Brazil. The fossil appeared to be 15-25 million years old and it's a holotype female fossil. However, the fossil's origin may be unknown, it is ingrained in highly polymerized Dominican amber.

References

† Fossil Lepidoptera Prehistoric insects of the Caribbean Oligocene insects Fossil taxa described in 2004 {{paleo-Lepidoptera-stub