| Praepapilio Temporal range:
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|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Papilionidae |
| Subfamily: | †Praepapilioninae Tindale, 1984 |
| Genus: | †Praepapilio Durden and Rose, 1978[1] |
| Species [2] | |
|
2; see text | |
Praepapilio is an extinct genus of swallowtail butterfly from the middle Eocene deposits of Colorado, United States, comparable to the Lutetian epoch in age. The genus is considered to be the only representative of the fossil subfamily Praepapilioninae.[1][3]
Praepapilio is, so far, the only wholly extinct subtaxon known within the swallowtail family. Two species have been described, each from a single fossil find.
- ^ a b Durden, C.J., and H. Rose. 1978. Butterflies from the middle Eocene: the earliest occurrence of fossil Papilionidae (Lepidoptera). Pearce-Sellards Ser. Tex. Mem. Mus. 29: 1-25.
- ^ Rienk de Jong (2007). "Estimating time and space in the evolution of the Lepidoptera" (PDF). Tijdschrift voor Entomologie. 150 (2): 319–346. doi:10.1163/22119434-900000233.
- ^ Collins, N. Mark; Morris, Michael G. (1985). Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World: The IUCN Red Data Book. Gland & Cambridge: IUCN. ISBN 978-2-88032-603-6 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.