''Neurosymploca? oligocenica'' is an extinct

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

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 family Zygaenidae, and possibly in the modern genus ''

Neurosymploca ''Neurosymploca'' is a genus of moths belonging to the family Zygaenidae The Zygaenidae moths are a family of Lepidoptera. The majority of zygaenids are tropical, but they are nevertheless quite well represented in temperate regions. Some of ...

''. The species is known from

Early Oligocene The Rupelian is, in the geologic timescale, the older of two ages or the lower of two stages of the Oligocene Epoch/ Series. It spans the time between . It is preceded by the Priabonian Stage (part of the Eocene) and is followed by the Chattian ...

, Rupelian stage, lake deposits near the commune of

Céreste Céreste (; Occitan: ''Ceirèsta'') is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France. It is known for its rich fossil beds in fine layers of "Calcaire de Campagne Calavon" limestone, which are now protected by the ...

in the

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Alpes-de-Haute-Provence or sometimes abbreviated as AHP (; oc, Aups d'Auta Provença; ) is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France, bordering Alpes-Maritimes and Italy to the east, Var to the south, Vaucluse to the w ...

, France.

History and classification

''Neurosymploca? oligocenica'' 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 seve ...

, specimen "MNHN-LP-R 55185". It is a single, mostly complete

adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of maj ...

which may be male, 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 minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especiall ...

. The

specimen is from the fossil bearing calcareous and oilshale outcrops of paleolake Céreste. The type specimen is currently preserved in the paleoentomological collections housed in the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

, the National Museum of Natural History, located in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, France. ''N.? oligocenica'' was first studied by Fidel Fernández-Rubio of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Spain and André Nel of the

, with their 2000

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 ''Boletín de La S.E.A.'' Fernández-Rubio and Nel coined the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bo ...

''oligocenica'' as a reference to Oligocene, the age of the species. At the time of description, a second fossil possibly from the same species had recently been discovered, however as it was being held in a private collection in

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...

, France, it was unavailable for study.

Description

The holotype of ''N.? oligocenica'' is long with a robust thorax and an abdomen which has four possible color bands and a definite darker fifth band near the apex. The slender antennae are 38–46 segments long, with tips which form less differentiated antennal clubs at the tips than modern species in the family. The antennae display a rhomboidal cross section that is not present in any other member of the family. While poorly preserved and partly disarticulated, the legs are very similar in appearance to modern species. The fore wings are long and wide, giving a length to width ratio that is greater than in modern species, and fits the suggestion put forth by B. Alberti in 1954 that modern species of ''Neurosymploca'' have narrower wings than other members of the tribe. The hind wings are mostly obscured by the fore wings. While partial, the fore and hind wings still show some color pattering. The counterpart side of the fossil displays three distinct light spots in the uniformly clear brown fore wings and the hind wings show the characteristic rectangular spot found in some modern species. ''N.? oligocenica'' has the same combination of characters as modern ''Neurosymploca'' species, which indicates a probable diurnal lifestyle. ''N.? oligocenica'' is also the oldest member of the subfamily Zygaeninae and its presence in the Oligocene of France confirms the ancestors of the modern

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sib ...

genera '' Epizygaenella'' and '' Zyngaena'' were present in Europe before the Miocene. The rhomboid antenna structuring found in ''N.? oligocenica'' is unique, and leaves the phylogenetic position of the species uncertain, with the possibility it may represent an extinct genus rather than being a member of ''Neurosymploca''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7002698

† 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 ...

Oligocene insects Fossil Lepidoptera Prehistoric life of Europe Fossil taxa described in 2000