''Epiborkhausenites'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

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

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

Bartonian stage The Bartonian is, in the ICS's geologic time scale, a stage or age in the middle Eocene Epoch or Series. The Bartonian Age spans the time between . It is preceded by the Lutetian and is followed by the Priabonian Age. Stratigraphic defini ...

Baltic amber The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that these forests created more than ...

deposits near the town of

Palanga Palanga (; bat-smg, Palonga; pl, Połąga; german: Polangen) is a seaside resort town in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Palanga is the busiest summer resort in Lithuania and has sandy beaches (18 km, 11 miles long ...

in Lithuania.

History and classification

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

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

, 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 that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In ...

. 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 ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields o ...

, located in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

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

type description A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species that have be ...

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 Academy ...

''. 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 which clarifies the causes, context, and consequences of those facts. It may establish rules or laws, and may clarify the existing rules or laws in relatio ...

for the specific epithet ''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 ''Hofmannophila'' is a genus of moths in the concealer moth family Oecophoridae. It is monotypic, with the single species ''Hofmannophila pseudospretella'', the brown house moth, which appears to be closely related to species of the genus '' Bork ...

'', '' Himmacia huachucella'', '' Psilocorsis quercicella'' and '' Inga sparsiciliella''. 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, and are thus harder to ...

n fossil in amber.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5382427 † † Prehistoric insects of Europe Fossil Lepidoptera Eocene insects Fossil taxa described in 1973 Baltic amber