2025/06/19
Keio University
Kagoshima University
Among insects, Lepidoptera are particularly rare as fossils, and fossils of the subfamily Chalcosiinae (burnet moths), a group within this order, had never before been discovered anywhere in the world.
A research team including Teacher Yui Takahashi of Keio Yochisha Elementary School, Professor Emeritus Hiroaki Aiba of Keio University (also a part-time lecturer at Keio Yokohama Elementary School), and Professor Yoshitaka Sakamaki of Kagoshima University has reported a fossil of a moth wing, unearthed from approximately 3.5-million-year-old lacustrine deposits in Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture, as the world's first fossil from the subfamily Chalcosiinae of the family Zygaenidae.
Upon detailed examination of the fossil, stored at "Geostudio Yuzawa" (Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture), the research team identified it as a moth of the genus Agalope based on features such as its wing venation and the patterns remaining on the wing. The species was named Agalope oshikirii in honor of its discoverer, Mr. Shin Oshikiri, who had been actively conducting research in the local area.
The results of this study were published in the online First View of the Journal of Paleontology, the academic journal of The Paleontological Society, on May 9, 2025.
Please see below for the full press release.