Researchers present first fossilized 'emperor' butterfly

Butterfly fossils are rare, and finds that preserve fine anatomical details and wing patterns are an absolute exception. An international research team from Sweden, the U.S., and Germany, led by Dr. Hossein Rajaei, lepidopterist at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, and with the participation of Prof. Dr. Torsten Wappler from the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt, has now described an exceptionally well-preserved butterfly fossil, approximately 34 to 28 million years old.