Dominickus
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''Dominickus'' 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 ...
of
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 butterfly-moth family
Castniidae Castniidae, or castniid moths, is a small family of moths with fewer than 200 species: The majority are Neotropical with some in Australia and a few in south-east Asia. These are medium-sized to very large moths, usually with drab, cryptically ma ...
containing a
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species ''Dominickus castnioides''. The species is known from
late Eocene The Priabonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS's geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age or the upper stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Eocene epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans ...
,
Priabonian stage The Priabonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS's geologic timescale, the latest age (geology), age or the upper stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Eocene epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans ...
, lake deposits near the small community of Guffey in
Teller County, Colorado Teller County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,710. The county seat is Cripple Creek, and the most populous city is Woodland Park. Teller County is included in the Colorado Spr ...
, United States.


History and classification

''Dominickus castnioides'' 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 "P.22949". It is a single, mostly complete pair of fore wings, preserved as a compression fossil in fine grained
shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...
. The shale specimen is from the fossiliferous outcrops of the
Florissant Formation The Florissant Formation is a sedimentary geologic formation outcropping around Florissant, Teller County, Colorado. The formation is noted for the abundant and exceptionally preserved insect and plant fossils that are found in the mudstones an ...
which outcrop near Guffey southwest of Florissant. The type specimen is currently preserved in the paleoentomological collections housed in the
Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educationa ...
, located in
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, United States. ''Dominickus'' was first studied by
Norman Barnett Tindale Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist. He is best remembered for his work mapping the various tribal groupings of Aboriginal Australians a ...
of
Palo Alto, California Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...
, with his 1985
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 of Research on the Lepidoptera''. 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 Tindale in honor of Richard B. Dominick. Tindale did not provide an
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 ...
''castnioides''. When first examined, the specimen was thought to possibly be related to an early ancestor of
Hesperioidea Skippers are a group of butterflies placed in the family Hesperiidae within the order Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea, but have since been placed in the superfamily Papilion ...
and
Papilionoidea Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...
, due to the overall wide shape of the wings and the fork of the Cu vein being near the wing midpoint. However while Tindale was examining a series of photographs taken in Australia of live '' Synemon'' species butterfly-moths, he noticed a strong similarity between the modern moth and the Florissant fossil. Tindale then compared the fossil to the modern Chilean species '' Castnia psittacus'' which shows a closer match. The major difference between the fossil and modern members of Castniidae is the fossil's lack of a crossvein between the R1 and R2 veins. At the time of description, the Florissant Formation was considered to be
Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...
in age. Further refinement of the formation's age using radiometric dating of sanidine crystals has resulted in an age of 34 million years old, which places the formation in the Eocene Chadronian stage. Further refinement of the Eocene-Oligocene has placed the formation into the late Eocene Priabonian stage.


Description

The holotype forewings of ''Dominickus castnioides'' are about long and about wide. The wings have an overall broadly triangular shape with a rounded tip. The vein structure is very similar to that of modern Castniidae members, having an R-vein which supports the costal third of the wing. Due to the nature of the matrix in which the fossil is preserved, the wing scales of the specimen are not distinguishable or are absent. The outline of wing margin furthest from the wing base is possibly a fringe like that found in the modern members of the family. Photographs of the specimen give possible indications of the color pattering with the costal area, narrow at the wing base and widening out at the midpoint a dark tone. The base of the wing was possibly light colored with the tone extending along the hind margin.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5290947
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 ...
Fossil Lepidoptera Priabonian insects Fossil taxa described in 1985 Eocene insects of North America Florissant Formation Monotypic prehistoric insect genera Monotypic moth genera