Charaxes candiope

Jong, Rienk De, 2017, Fossil butterflies, calibration points and the molecular clock (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea), Zootaxa 4270 (1), pp. 1-63 : 20-21

candiope . Charaxes candiope (Godart, 1824)

Nymphalidae : Charaxinae .

Pleistocene copal from East Africa ( Zanzibar), but see the comments below.

Copal is half-fossilized resin, an intermediate stage of polymerization and hardening.

Depository: unknown.

Published figures: A picture of the fossil has not been published. Good pictures of the extant species can be found in many books on African butterflies.

This specimen was listed by Skalski (1976) without further information. It is a widespread extant species, occurring over most of sub-Saharan Africa. It is highly remarkable that dripping resin could trap a member of this genus of strong and fast-flying species, unless it was already dead or crippled.

The fossil is listed by Sohn et al. (2012) as originating from "Tanzania: Zanzibar Island". However, as explained by Evers (1907), the so-called Zanzibar-Copal does not originate from the island, but from the costal area of Tanzania between Bagamoyo to Lindi. The name "Zanzibar-Copal" may refer to the time when there was a sultanate of Zanzibar that covered the island as well as a large part of present Tanzania .

According to Evers (1907), the Zanzibar-Copal is only two- to three thousand years old. It is too young to be of interest for calibration purposes, and since there is no way to check Skalski's record, it seems better to dismiss its relevance.