A Fossil Noctuid Moth Egg from the Late Cretaceous of Eastern North America

• DOI: 10.1126/science.219.4584.507
• Publication Date: 2006-10-05T18:37:18Z
• Authors: Lawrence F. Gall; Bruce H. Tiffney
• Keywords: 0303 health sciences; 03 medical and health sciences

A moth egg assignable to the family Noctuidae (Lepidoptera) is described from 75-million-year-old sediments from Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. This sample, which extends the fossil record of this family and modern heteroneuran moths back to the Cretaceous, may provide insight into the coevolution of moths and flowering plants, as well as have implications for the evolution of bats.