Paleolepidopterites florissantanus ( Cockerell, 1907 ) Heikkilä & Brown & Baixeras & Mey & Kozlov, 2018

Heikkilä, Maria, Brown, John W., Baixeras, Joaquin, Mey, Wolfram & Kozlov, Mikhail V., 2018, Re-examining the rare and the lost: a review of fossil Tortricidae (Lepidoptera), Zootaxa 4394 (1), pp. 41-60 : 53-54

Paleolepidopterites florissantanus ( Cockerell, 1907) , comb. nov.

Fig. 5 .

[ Tortrix florissantanus Cockerell, 1907 ; generic combination Tortricites florissantanus ( Cockerell, 1907) proposed by Sohn et al. 2012].

Excavation locality and depository: UCNH Boulder (Holotype: no. 8579)/ USA: Colorado, Teller County ,

Florissant Beds National Monument (Florissant Fm.)/late Priabonian, Late Eocene. The examination of this compression fossil is based on high-quality photographs provided by the UCNH.

Published illustrations: Meyer 2003: 224, fig. 194 (photograph).

Condition: This is a compression fossil of a moth with its wings folded. The size of the piece of stone is 6.4 × 4.5 cm. The length of body including the head is 14 mm. Forewing length is 13 mm. The moth is female based on the presence of three acanthi in the frenulum at the base of the right hindwing (although Cockerell (1907) reported two acanthi). Clear veins or scales cannot be observed in the photograph of this fossil.

Comments: The concave costa of the forewing led Cockerell (1907) to assign the moth to Tortricidae (Tortrix) . However, Skalski (1992) considered this family assignment uncertain. We share this opinion as no morphological details are visible to support placement in Tortricidae . Although a concave costa of the forewing occurs in a few tortricids, it is a more widespread feature in other families, e.g. in Pyraloidea and Gelechioidea. Hence, we question the assignment of this fossil to Tortricidae . The acanthi indicate that the moth belongs to Heteroneura, but because the character evidence is extremely meagre, we do not have suggestions regarding a more precise taxonomic placement.

Figures

FIGURE 5. Paleolepidopterites florissantanus (Cockerell, 1907), comb. n. UCNH (HT: no. 8579). Compression fossil, Florissant Beds National Monument. Length of body including head 14 mm. Photo: David Zelagin. The image was generated by the Fossil Insect Collaborative TCN.