European Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), with a currently known inventory of approximately 11, 000 species, are generally considered well-researched. However, a new genus and species from the Geometrid moth family described in the scientific journal ZooKeys tell a different story. The moth, named Mirlatia arcuata, by a research team from Germany, Austria, and the United Kingdom, is one of the most remarkable discoveries in Lepidoptera of recent decades.
Decades-old UFO
In the early 1980s, Austrian amateur entomologist Robert Hentscholek collected three specimens of a moth species in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, which were integrated into his collection or given to colleagues without being identified. Decades later, the collection was sold to Toni Mayr, another hobbyist researcher from Austria, who immediately noticed the unusual insect that stood out from all known European species and couldn't even be assigned to a known genus.
