A New Family of Moths from the Middle Jurassic (Insecta: Lepidoptera)

Abstract

Abstract: Three lepidopteran species, from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds (inner Mongolia, China), are described in a new family, Mesokristenseniidae, and new genus, Mesokristensenia , which could represent the sister group of the Micropterigidae. Mesokristensenia differs from all extant Lepidoptera, but one genus ( Agathiphaga , Agathiphagidae), in retaining four median veins in the forewing, a plesiomorphy also present in many Trichoptera. Evidence for placing Mesokristensenia in the Lepidoptera includes four traits, notably a previously unrecorded autapomorphy of this insect order: beyond stem M1+2, vein M1 is bent and connected to cross‐vein r‐m (in both wing pairs). Among 24 characters taken into account to assess the systematic position of Mesokristensenia , 12 are considered informative for a cladistic analysis involving this fossil taxon and the four suborders recognized in present‐day Lepidoptera (Zeugloptera, Aglossata, Heterobathmiina, and Glossata).