''Epiborkhausenites'' is an extinct

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

in the concealer moth family

Oecophoridae Oecophoridae (concealer moths) is a family of small moths in the superfamily Gelechioidea. The phylogeny and systematics of gelechoid moths are still not fully resolved, and the circumscription of the Oecophoridae is strongly affected by this. ...

and containing a

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species ''Epiborkhausenites obscurotrimaculatus''. The species is known only from

Middle Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''Ēṓs'', ' Dawn') a ...

Bartonian stage The Bartonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy's (ICS) geologic time scale, a stage or age in the middle of the Eocene Epoch or Series. The Bartonian Age spans the time between . It is preceded by the Lutetian and is followe ...

Baltic amber Baltic amber or succinite is amber from the Baltic region, home of its largest known deposits. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that this forested region provided the re ...

deposits near the town of

Palanga Palanga (; ; ) is a resort town, resort city in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Palanga is the busiest and the largest summer resort in Lithuania and has sand, sandy beaches (18 km, 11 miles long and up to 300 metres, 10 ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

History and classification

''Epiborkhausenites obscurotrimaculatus'' is known only from one fossil, the

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

, specimen "No. 16,8 IGUW/AWS". It is a single, mostly complete female, preserved as a three-dimensional fossil in transparent yellow

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...

. The amber specimen is from the fossiliferous Tyszkiewicz's Amber Mine which is located near the seaside town of Palanga. While the type description does not mention the geologic age of the amber, dating of the material based on the microfauna inclusions present gives a date of 37.7 mya. The type specimen is currently preserved in the Palaeozoological Laboratory amber collections housed in the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

, located in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, Poland. ''Epiborkhausenites ''was first studied by Andrzej W. Skalski of Częstochowa, Poland, with his 1973

type description A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

being published in the journal ''

Acta Palaeontologica Polonica ''Acta Palaeontologica Polonica'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed open access scientific journal of paleontology and paleobiology. It was established by Roman Kozłowski in 1956. It is published by the Institute of Paleobiology of the Polish Academ ...

''. The

generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

name was coined by Skalski in reference to the similarity of the genus to the related genus '' Paraborkhausenites''. The

explanation An explanation is a set of statements usually constructed to describe a set of facts that clarifies the causes, context, and consequences of those facts. It may establish rules or laws, and clarifies the existing rules or laws in relation ...

for the

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''obscurotrimaculatus'' refers the three dark spots that are visible on the fore-wings. Visual comparison of ''E. obscurotrimaculatus'' to other fossil species from amber showed a close relationship with ''Paraborkhausenites innominatus'', '' Borkhausenites implicatella'' and '' B. incertella''. ''Paraborkhausenites'' can be distinguished from ''Epiborkhausenites'' by the vein structuring in the fore wings with ''Paraborkhausenites'' having r₁, r₂, and r₃ veins which run parallel to each other. In ''Epiborkhausenites'' the spacing between the r₁ and r₂ is larger than the spacing between the r₂ and r₃. Based on the observable external character of the wing venation, ''E. obscurotrimaculatus'' to the modern species '' Tubuliferola josephinae'', '' Hofmannophila pseudospretella'', '' Himmacia huachucella'', '' Psilocorsis quercicella'' and ''

Inga sparsiciliella The black-marked inga moth (''Inga sparsiciliella'') is a species of moth of the family Oecophoridae. It has been recorded from Costa Rica, Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, South Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

''. Skalski notes that the species ''Tubuliferola josephinae'' and ''Hofmannophila pseudospretella'' both have a very similar color patterning of spots on the fore wings as that seen on ''E. obscurotrimaculatus''.

Description

The holotype female is considered remarkably well preserved and complete, missing only the palpi labiales which were possibly plucked. The underside of the abdomen is obscured by a delicate milky coating. One of the hind wings shows a deformation due to folding. The fore wings are a little over 3 times as long as they are wide and have a blunt tip. The hindwings are slightly narrower than the forewings. The fore wings show a well preserved and distinct color pattering, each with a larger dark spot present near the transversal vein and two positioned on the basal half of the wing. This color patterning was the first observed on a

microlepidoptera Microlepidoptera (micromoths) is an artificial (i.e., unranked and not monophyletic) grouping of moth families, commonly known as the "smaller moths" ( micro, Lepidoptera). These generally have wingspans of under 20 mm, so are harder to iden ...

n fossil in amber.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5382427

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species or languages). It is one of the mo ...

Eocene insects of Europe Fossil Lepidoptera Fossil taxa described in 1973 Baltic amber Monotypic prehistoric insect genera Bartonian genera