Acrophiletis [SEP] parent taxon
Acrophiletis
Acrophiletis is a genus of moth in the family Gelechiidae. It contains the species Acrophiletis cosmocrossa, which is found in Bolivia.
The wingspan is about 23 mm. The forewings are rosy-brownish with a narrow suffused dark bronzy-brown median streak from the base to the termen beneath the apex, and a narrow streak between veins 9 and 10. There are streaks of blackish suffusion on veins 9-11 and a marginal streak of blackish suffusion around the apex and termen. The hindwings are pale grey
Taxon in disguise
In bacteriology, a taxon in disguise is a species, genus or higher unit of biological classification whose evolutionary history reveals has evolved from another unit of similar or lower rank, making the parent unit paraphyletic. This happens when rapid evolution makes a new species appear radically different from the ancestral group, so that it is not (initially) recognised as belonging to the parent phylogenetic group, leaving the latter an evolutionary grade.
While the term is from bacteriology, parallel examples are found throughout the tree of