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A new fossil tortricid (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) from Dominican amber

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  • National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC

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Poinar Jr, G.O. & Brown, J.W.: A new fossil tortricid (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) from Dominican amber. Ent. scand. 23: 25-29. Copenhagen, Denmark. April 1993. ISSN 0013-8711. A tortricid, presumably of the tribe Polyorthini of the subfamily Chlidanotinae (Tortricidae: Lepidoptera), Polyvena horatis gen. n., sp. n., is described in amber from the Dominican Republic. The present find represents the first tortricid to be described from Dominican amber and the first possible fossil of the subfamily Chlidanotinae. Diagnostic subfamily characters include a generalized wing venation with widely distant M2 and M3 of the hindwing, raised scale tufts on the forewing and large valvae without a corresponding large tegumen.
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A new fossil tortricid (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)
from Dominican amber
GEORGE O. POINAR JR and JOHN W. BROWN
Poinar Jr, G.O. &
Brown,
J.W.: A new fossil tortricid (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)
from Dominican
amber.
Ent. scand. 23: 25-29. Copenhagen,
Denmark.
April 1993. ISSN 0013-8711.
A tortricid, presumably
of the tribe Polyorthini
of the subfamily
Chlidanotinae (Tortricidae:
Lepidoptera),
Polyvena
horatis gen. n., sp.
n., is described
in amber from the Dominican
Repub-
lic.
The present
find represents
the first tortricid to be described from Dominican
amber
and the
first possible
fossil
of the subfamily
Chlidanotinae.
Diagnostic
subfamily
characters
include a
generalized wing
venation
with widely
distant M2
and M3
of the hindwing,
raised scale
tufts on
the forewing
and large valvae
without a corresponding large tegumen.
G.O. Poinar Jr, Department
of Entomological
Sciences,
University
of California, Berkeley,
CA
94720,
U.S.A.
J.W.
Brown,
Dudek & Associates, Inc.,
605
Third Street, Encinitas,
CA 92024,
U.S.A.
Introduction
Fossil moths are known from various amber
deposits (Spahr 1989; Poinar 1992). However, rela-
tively few specimens have been described adequate-
ly because it usually is impossible to observe details
of wing venation, genitalia, and other diagnostic
characters. During our investigation of Dominican
amber fossils, moths with outstretched wings clear-
ly illustrating wing venation are encountered rarely.
However, one such specimen belonging to the fami-
ly Tortricidae was discovered and is described in the
present study.
Materials and methods
The fossil specimen came from ' La Toca' mine lo-
cated in the Cordillera Septentrional between San-
tiago and Puerto Plata in the northern part of the
Dominican Republic. This mine is in the Altimira
facies of the el Mamey Formation (Upper Eocene),
which is shale-sandstone interspersed with a con-
glomerate of well-rounded pebbles (Eberle et al.
1980). Differences in the magnitudes of absorption
peaks of the exo-methylene group in nuclear mag-
netic resonance spectra of amber from different
mines in the Dominican Republic were used to
calibrate the ages of these deposits. The results
showed a range of 25 to 40 million years, with amber
from ' La Toca' indicating an age of 35 to 40 million
years (lower Oligocene to upper Eocene) (Lambert
et al. 1985). This age is within the independent dat-
ing reported by Cepek (1990)
who gave a range of 30
to 45 million years for 'La Toca' mine.
The amber piece containing the fossil weighed 1.6
grams and was roughly elliptical in shape, measur-
ing 2.7 cm long, 1.65 cm wide and 0.4 cm thick.
The following description is based on the single
specimen. Nomenclature for male genitalia and
wing venation follow Horak (1984); Fw = fore-
wing ; DC = discal cell. Measurements were made
using a dissecting microscope with an optical
micrometer.
Systematics
Polyvena gen. n.
(Figs 1-3)
Type
species:
Polyvena
horatis sp. n.
Description. - Head: Antenna long, slender, lack-
ing conspicuous setae, with two rings of scales per
antennal segment. Labial palpus apparently por-
rect or weakly upturned, segment II
greatly expand-
ed distally by scaling, concealing segment III. Max-
26
Figs 1,
2. Polyvena
horatis gen. n. & sp. n. in Dominican
amber: (1)
holotype,
dorsal view;
(2)
same,
dorsal view of left
fore- and hindwing.
27
Fig. 3. Morphology
and venation
of the fore (upper)
and hindwing (lower)
of the holotype
of Polyvena
horatis gen. n.
& sp. n. in Dominican amber (bar = 1 mm).
illary palpus not seen. Ocelli well developed.
Chaetosema not seen.
Thorax: No specialized structures on legs; apical
setae on tarsomeres inconspicuous.
Forewing: Apex weakly falcate; length ca 2.7
times width; length of DC about 0.6 times FW
length; width of DC about 0.16 its length; CuA2
originates about 0.7 along length of DC; all veins
separate beyond DC; R4 to costa, R5 before apex;
Rs and M, closely approximate for a considerable
distance basally; cell formed by lA+2A extremely
long, ca 0.55 length of DC; CuP present; chorda
and M-stem present; costal fold absent.
Hindwing: Sc+R, and Rs approximate at base;
M2 and M3 widely separate at base, nearly parallel;
M3 and CuA1 short-stalked; CuP well defined;
M-stem absent.
Abdomen: Dorsal pits absent.
Male genitalia: Uncus, socius, and gnathos not
observable. Valva large, rectangular-obovate. Core-
mata not observable.
Female genitalia: Unknown.
Diagnosis. - On the basis of its generalized wing ve-
nation with the M2 and M3 of the hindwing widely
distant, the raised scale tufts on the forewing and
the large valvae without a corresponding large tegu-
men, Polyvena is almost certainly a member of the
subfamily Chlidanotinae. Although it is provision-
ally assigned to the tribe Polyorthini, the mosaic
distribution of chlidanotine characters exhibited by
Polyvena indicate that this placement is equivocal.
Polyvena differs from previously described poly-
orthine genera in the following characters: 1) most
described genera have long, slender, porrect labial
palpi, with segment III smooth scaled and exposed;
2) nearly all other genera lack a well defined chorda
and M-stem; 3) in all other genera the valvae are
considerably longer; 4) nearly all other genera (ex-
cept those in Australia) have a more rounded apex
of the forewing; 5) the R5 vein terminates before
the apex of the wing. With the exception of Polyve-
na, no polyorthine genus deviates in more than one
of the aforementioned characters. The long basal
separation of lA and 2A is unique to Polyvena.
28
Fig. 4. Hypothesized
phylogenetic
relationship among the tribes of the subfamily
Chlidanotinae. See Table
1 for an ex-
planation of the characters.
Polyvena horatis sp. n.
Description. - Male. Forewing length 5.8 mm (n =
1). Head: Frons sparsely scaled; vertex roughly
scaled. Labial palpus densely scaled, mostly brown.
Proboscis well developed. Thorax: Smooth-scaled,
ochre mixed with brown. Forewing: Three lateral
bands of upraised scales: one extending from distal
end of DC to costa; one extending from posterior
edge of DC, ca 0.9 from base to apex, to dorsum;
and one extending across the junction of lA+2A.
Hindwing: As described for the genus. Abdomen,
Male Genitalia: As described for genus.
Female. Unknown.
1)Ipe material. - Holotype: Deposited (accession no.
L-3-24) in the Poinar collection of Dominican amber
maintained at the University of California, Berkeley.
Specimen
obtained
from '
La Toca' mine in the northern
portion of the Dominican Republic sometime in 1991.
Collector
unknown.
Discussion
The present find represents the only known proba-
ble fossil of the subfamily Chlidanotinae and the
first tortricid to be described from Dominican am-
ber. At least four species of Tortricidae have been
described from Baltic amber (Spahr 1989) and all
are clearly distinct from the present Dominican am-
ber specimen.
Polyvena is excluded from the Hilarographini by
its moderate-sized ocelli and the presence of large,
bushy, porrect labial palpi. All Neotropical Hilaro-
graphini have huge ocelli and narrow, smooth
scaled, erect labial palpi. Polyvena is excluded from
the Chlidanotini by its unmodified antennae, the
presence of a well defined chorda and M-stem in
the forewing, the presence of upraised scale tufts on
the forewing, and the presence of well defined ocel-
li. All Neotropical Chlidanotini have stout, flat-
tened, smooth scaled antenna, lack the chorda and
M-stem, lack upraised scales on the forewing, and
possess small, usually inconspicuous ocelli. Termi-
nation of R5 before the wing apex is a trait of many
Polyorthini, especially the Australian forms with
raised scale tufts. The most convincing polyorthine
synapomorphies are found in the genitalia, which
are not observable in Polyvena.
The tortricid subfamily Chlidanotinae, including
the tribes Chlidanotini, Polyorthini, and Hilaro-
graphini, is believed to represent overall the least
derived of the three subfamilies that comprise the
Tortricidae (Horak & Brown 1991). Each of the
29
Table l. Synapomorphic
character states for Fig. 4.
three tribes exhibits fairly convincing Gondwanan
distributions, as demonstrated by Diakonoff (1974)
for the Polyorthini, by Heppner (1982) for the
Hilarographini, and by Razowski (1987)
and Brown
(1990a, b) for the Chlidanotini. The monophyly of
the group is supported by several convincing syn-
apomorphies (Tuck 1981;
Horak & Brown 1991).
A
hypothesized phylogenetic relationship among the
tribes is presented in Fig. 4. Characters for the
cladogram are presented in Table 1.
The Polyorthini are considered to be the most
generalized tribe of the 'subfamily'. Two represen-
tatives of the Chlidanotinae are known from the
Caribbean; one of these, Conchylis tricesimana
Zeller occurs in Jamaica and Costa Rica, and the
other, a species of Auratonota, Razowski is endem-
ic to Dominica. A single representative of the Poly-
orthini (i.e., an undetermined species of Polyortha
reported from Dominica) is the only member of this
tribe in the Antilles. Considering the greater level of f
biodiversity represented by fossils in Dominican
amber than found at present in Hispaniola, the dis-
covery of a primitive member of this tribe in
Dominican amber is not surprising.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Jerry Powell
for his interest
and sug-
gestions related to this project and Michel Prentice for
technical assistance.
References
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... Polyvena horatis Poinar & Brown, 1993 Excavation locality and depository: George Poinar, Jr. private collection (Holotype: L-3-24)/ Dominican Republic: Cordillera Septentrional between Santiago and Puerto Plata, La Toca group of mines (Dominican Amber, La Toca Fm.)/Burdigalian, Early Miocene. The fossil was examined by JWB. ...
... Comments: Poinar and Brown (1993) provide a detailed description and illustrations of the moth. The authors place the fossil with certainty in the extant subfamily Chlidanotinae based on the presence of the following characters: a generalized wing venation with hindwing veins M 2 and M 3 widely distant, raised scale tufts on the forewing, and elongate valvae. ...
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In this catalog, we attempt to assemble all fossil records of Lepidoptera described formally or informally in the world literature. A total of 667 records dealing with at least 4,568 specimens have been compiled. They include descriptions of 131 fossil genera and 229 fossil species, as well as 72 extant genera and 21 extant species to which some of these fossils supposedly belong or show superficial similarity. Replacement names of two fossil genera are proposed to avoid homonymy: Baltopsyche Sohn, gen. nov. for Palaeopsyche Sobczyk and Kobbert, 2009 and Netoxena Sohn, gen. nov. for Xena Martins-Neto, 1999. New generic combinations are proposed for: Tortrix? destructus Cockerell, 1916, Tortrix florissantanus Cockerell, 1907, and Tortrix sp. sensu Gravenhorst (1835), all three to Tortricites Kozlov, 1988; Pterophorus oligocenicus Bigot, Nel and Nel, 1986, to Merrifieldia Tutt, 1905; Aporia sp. sensu Branscheid (1969) to Pierites Heer, 1849; Noctua spp. sensu Hope (1836) and Lomnicki (1894), both to Noctuites Heer, 1849. Eleven names improperly proposed for lepidopteran fossils are invalidated: Baltonides roeselliformis Skalski in Kosmowska-Ceranowicz and Popiolek, 1981; Baltodines Kupryjanowicz, 2001; Barbarothea Scudder, 1890; Lepidopterites Piton, 1936; Palaeozygaena Reiss, 1936; Psamateia calipsa Martins-Neto, 2002; Saxibatinca meyi Skalski in Kristensen and Skalski, 1998; Spatalistiforma submerga Skalski, 1976; Thanatites juvenalis Scudder, 1875; Tortricibaltia diakonoffi Skalski, 1976; and Zygaenites Reiss, 1936. An unnecessary subsequent type designation for Pierites Heer, 1849, is discussed. A total of 129 records include lepidopteran fossils which cannot be placed in any taxonomic rank. There also exist at least 25 fossil records which lack any evidence of the supposed lepidopteran association. Misidentified specimens, including 18 fossil genera, 29 fossil species and 12 unnamed fossils, are excluded from Lepidoptera. All the known lepidopteran fossils are annotated by fossil type, specimen deposition, excavation locality, association with plants when present, and geological age. A bibliographic list of lepidopteran fossils is provided.
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Dominican amber contains a very rich Miocene biota with an exquisite preservation. More than 400 species of fossil insects have been described from this amber to date. In this paper an index of all described insects species together with the references in which they were de- scribed and the repositories of the holotypes are given.
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A new, virtually complete and well-preserved female specimen of Voltinia dramba Hall, Robbins, and Harvey, 2004 (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae) provides new data on this fossil species, and a new fossil species of the Recent genus of Nymphalidae Dynamine Hübner, 1819 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) is described as Dynamine alexae n.sp., on the basis of a male specimen. The two species are preserved in Miocene amber from the Dominican Republic. Dynamine alexae n.sp. represents the first adult nymphalid butterfly found as a fossil in amber. The four taxa of butterflies found up to the present in Dominican amber indicate post-Miocene extinctions in Hispaniola, probably caused by insularization. The butterflies found in Dominican amber do not support a hypothesis of a Gondwanan origin for many butterfly tribes and subfamilies as previously proposed; we conclude that this hypothesis is implausible based on the age of the butterflies as inferred from the fossil record. Some palaeoecologic and taphonomic questions are discussed.
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Pseudocomotis, new genus, is described to accommodate Orthotaenia scardiana Dognin, Cnephasia citroleuca Meyrick (both formerly in Orthocomotis Dognin), Eulia agatharcha Meyrick, and two new species, serendipita and albolineana. The presence of a broad saccus - vincu-1um complex, hami, a hairpencil from abdominal segment VIII in the male, and the wide basal separation of hindwing veins M2 and M3, indicate that Pseudocomotis belongs in the Chlidanotini (Chlidanotinae). The single female associated with the new genus lacks the abdomen, prohibiting genitalic diagnosis and comparison with closely related genera. Phylogenetic relationships among the Polyorthini, Hilarographini, and Chlidanotini are discussed.
Article
CONTENTS Introduction................... 4 Polyorthini Obraztsov................ 6 Key to the genera of Polyorthini............. 10 Polyortha Dognin................. 11 Notes on species of Polyortha Dognin in the collection of the British Museum (Natural History)................ 13 Lophoprora Meyrick................ 18 L. cyanostacta Meyrick ♂ ♀............. 19 Lopharcha Diakonoff................ 21 Species group 1................. 23 L. quinquestriata Diakonoff ♂♀........... 23 L. chalcophanes (Meyrick) ♀............ 25 L. chionea spec. nov. ♀.............. 30 L. halidora (Meyrick) ♂♀............. 31 L. deliqua spec. nov. ♀.............. 33 L. herbaecolor (Diakonoff) ♂♀............ 36 L. angustior (Diakonoff) ♀............. 38 L. rapax (Meyrick) ♂♀.............. 38 L. orthioterma (Diakonoff) ♀............ 40 L. erioptila (Meyrick) ♂ ♀............. 43 L. cryptacantha spec. nov. ♂♀............ 45 L. maurognoma spec. nov. ♂............. 49 L. siderota (Meyrick) ♀.............. 50 Species group 2................. 50
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Iconostigma gen.n., with included species tryphaenu sp.n. (typespecies) and morosa sp.n., is described from New Caledonia. A key to males of the world genera and a check-list of the world species of Chlidanotini are provided. The relationship of the Chlidanotini to the Polyorthini and Hilarographini is discussed, with particular reference to Iconostigma. It is suggested that the hair-pencils of the eighth abdominal segment, and the invaginations in the male valvae into which each hair-pencil is inserted, are apomorphic characters which unite these three tribes. Panegyru Diakonoff is transferred to the Tortricini and Polemograptis flavicostana (Walsingham) is transferred to Panegyra, comb.n.Archimaga euplocamis Meyrick is synonymized with Metrernis ochrolina Meyrick, syn.n.
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The carbon-13 NMR spectra of amber from several mining sites in the Dominican Republic show considerable variation. In certain cases the differences are sufficiently distinct to serve as a reliable indicator of provenance. The gradations within the resonances of unsaturated carbons may reflect the relative ages of the samples, because fossilization and diagenesis can remove this functionality.
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Se confirma la sinonimia previa de Thaumatographa Walsingham, 1897 con Hilarographa. Se proporciona la lista sistemática de los Hilarographini del Viejo Mundo; se excluyen de esta tribu a Embolostoma Diakonoff, 1977 y Nexosa Diakonoff, 1977. Se examinan treinta y tres especies de Hilarographa Zeller, 1877 de la región Oriental y Australiana de las que veintinueve se describen como nuevas: H. pahangana Razowski, sp. n., H. celebesiana Razowski, sp. n., H. baliana Razowski sp. n., H. perakana Razowski, sp. n., H. ancilla Razowski sp. n., H. meekana Razowski, sp. n., H. soleana Razowski, sp. n., H. gentinga Razowski, sp. n., H. johibradleyi Razowski, sp. n., H. fergussonana Razowsii, sp. n., H. auroscripta Razowski, sp. n., H. hainanica Razowski, sp. n., H. marangana Razowski, sp. n., H. buruana Razowski, sp. n., H. bosavina Razowski, sp. n., H. sipiroca Razowski, sp. n., H. rampayoha Razowski sp. n., H. uthaithani Razowski, sp. n., H. tasekia Razowski, sp. n., H. emburonga Razowski, sp. n., H. muluana Razowski, sp. n., H. shehkonga Razowski, sp. n., H. gunongana Razowski, sp. n., H. renonga Razowski, sp. n., H. khaoyai Razowski sp. n., H. uluana Razowski, sp. n., H. obinana Razowski, sp. n., H. robinsoni Razowski, sp. n., H. calyx Razowski, sp. n. Se proponen nueva nuevas combinaciones (véase la lista de taxa).
The geology of the Cordillera Septentrional
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Ergänzungen und Berichtigungen zu R. Keilbachs Bibliographie und Liste der Bernsteinfossilien -Überordung Mecopteroidea. Stuttg. Beitr. Naturk
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