Tarachoptera
Tarachoptera is an extinct order of insects, currently solely known from the mid Cretaceous aged Burmese amber. It belongs to Amphiesmenoptera alongside living Lepidopterans (butterflies and moths) and Trichoptera (caddiesflies), but is outside the clade containing the two groups, with an estimated divergence during the Upper Triassic, and therefore over a 100 million year ghost lineage. It currently contains only one family, the Tarachocelidae, which was named in a publication in 2017 a few months before the order itself was published. As the manuscript was in submission, an additional specimen belonging to a new genus justified creating a separate order. Additional species were described in 2018 and 2020. A notable character is the possession of wing scales like members of Lepidoptera, but these were suggested to have been evolved in parallel evolution from hairs or setae. Their flattened morphology and small size suggests they were adapted to living in small crevaces, the morphology of the mouth suggests that they were phytophagous, and ingested small particles, perhaps including pollen grains.
Q44626
Cretaceous
TIME
Q865750
Burmese amber
Concept
Q594224
Amphiesmenoptera
Concept
Q28319
Lepidoptera
Concept
Q184616
Trichoptera
Concept
Q917293
Upper Triassic
TIME
Q1352393
ghost lineage
UNK
Q7429713
wing scales
UNK
Q903761
parallel evolution
Concept
Q59099
phytophagous
Concept
Q33120782
Tarachoptera
MISC
2017-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2017
DATE
2018-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2018
DATE
2020-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2020
DATE
parent taxon
parent taxon