Tarachoptera is an extinct order of insects, currently solely known from the mid
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
aged
Burmese amber. It belongs to
Amphiesmenoptera
Amphiesmenoptera is an insect superorder, established by S. G. Kiriakoff, but often credited to Willi Hennig in his revision of insect taxonomy for two sister orders: Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and Trichoptera (caddisflies). In 2017, a t ...
alongside living
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...
ns (butterflies and moths) and
Trichoptera (caddiesflies), but is outside the clade containing the two groups, with an estimated divergence during the
Upper Triassic, and therefore over a 100 million year
ghost lineage
A ghost lineage is a hypothesized ancestor in a species lineage that has left no fossil evidence yet can be inferred to exist because of gaps in the fossil record or genomic evidence. The process of determining a ghost lineage relies on fossilized ...
. It currently contains only one family, the Tarachocelidae, which was named in a publication in 2017 a few months before the order itself was published. As the manuscript was in submission, an additional specimen belonging to a new genus justified creating a separate order.
Additional species were described in 2018 and 2020. A notable character is the possession of
wing scales like members of Lepidoptera, these were initially suggested to have been evolved in
parallel evolution from hairs or setae,
but a later study suggested that the scales of all amphiesmenopterans are homologous, sharing a common origin.
Their flattened morphology and small size suggests they were adapted to living in small crevices; the morphology of the mouth suggests that they were
phytophagous, and ingested small particles, perhaps including pollen grains.
Taxonomy
* ''
Tarachocelis'' Mey, Wichard, Müller et Wang, 2017
** ''Tarachocelis microlepidopterella'' Mey, Wichard, Müller et Wang, 2017
* ''
Kinitocelis'' Mey, Wichard, Müller et Wang, 2017
** ''Kinitocelis brevicostata'' Mey, Wichard, Müller et Wang, 2017
** ''Kinitocelis divisonotata'' Mey, Wichard, Müller et Wang, 2017
** ''Kinitocelis hennigi'' Mey, Wichard, Müller et Wang, 2017
** ''Kinitocelis macroptera'' Mey et al, 2020
** ''Kinitocelis sparsella'' Mey et al, 2018
** ''Kinitocelis dashengi'' Wang et al. 2022
* ''
Retortocelis'' Mey et al, 2018
** ''Retortocelis longella'' Mey et al, 2018
** ''Retortocelis minimella'' Mey et al, 2018
** ''Retortocelis spicipalpia'' Mey et al, 2020
** ''Retortocelis tyloptera'' Mey et al, 2018
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q33120782
Extinct insect orders
Amphiesmenoptera