''Baltimartyria'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus of primitive metallic moths in the family Micropterigidae. The genus is solely known from the

Early Eocene In the geologic timescale the Ypresian is the oldest age or lowest stratigraphic stage of the Eocene. It spans the time between , is preceded by the Thanetian Age (part of the Paleocene) and is followed by the Eocene Lutetian Age. The Ypresian i ...

Baltic amber deposits in the Baltic Sea region of Europe. The genus currently contains two described species, ''Baltimartyria proavitella'' and ''Baltimartyria rasnitsyni''.

''B. proavitella''

The

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known fossil was originally studied and described by Hans Rebel of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, Austria. Rebel named the species ''Micropterix proavitella'', thinking it belonged to the modern genus '' Micropterix''. Rebel published his description of the species in 1936. The fossil was reexamined in 1995 by the Polish entomologist Andrzej W. Skalski, who recognized the species was not a member of ''Micropterix'' and moved the species to the new genus ''Baltimartyria''.

''B. rasnitsyni''

The second species of ''Baltimartyria'' described from Baltic amber is ''B. rasnitsyni'' which, like ''B. proavitella'', is known from a single specimen. The holotype is included in the

paleoentomology The most recent understanding of the evolution of insects is based on studies of the following branches of science: molecular biology, insect morphology, paleontology, insect taxonomy, evolution, embryology, bioinformatics and scientific computing ...

collections of the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, as specimen MB.I 5950. The holotype specimen is a complete male moth, included in a transparent section of amber with its wings partly spread. Due to the positioning of the body the right antenna and right maxillary palps are not visible, while the top and inner sides of the genitalia are partly coated in a white coating. Overall the specimen has a body length of and has a fore-wing length of . ''B. rasnitsyni'' is distinguishable from ''B. proavitella'' by characters of the wing vein structure and the maxillary palps. While the R vein branches in ''B. proavitella'' all originate separately from the cell, whereas the R₄ and R₅ veins originate from a single vein that forks on the apex side of the cell. The species was described and named by Wolfram Mey in a 2011 paper published in the online and print journal '' ZooKeys''. Mey notes that the type specimen had been sitting on his desk for a number of years prior to description. 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 ...

placement was not recognized by Mey until Skalski's 1995 redescription of ''B. proavitella''. Mey chose the specific epithet ''rasnitsyni'' to honor the eminent Russian paleoentomologist, Alexandr Pavlovich Rasnitsyn.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4852754

† 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). It is one of the modern descendan ...

Prehistoric insects of Europe Fossil taxa described in 1995 Fossil taxa described in 2011 Fossil taxa described in 1935 Fossil Lepidoptera

Baltic amber Eocene insects Prehistoric insect genera