Hydriomena? protrita

Hydriomena? protrita Temporal range: Priabonian 35 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Holotype forewing
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Geometridae
Genus:	Hydriomena
Species:	†Hydriomena? protrita
Binomial name
Hydriomena? protrita Cockerell, 1922

Hydriomena? protrita is an extinct species of moth in the family Geometridae, and possibly in the modern genus Hydriomena. The species is known from late Eocene, Priabonian stage, lake deposits near the small community of Florissant in Teller County, Colorado, USA.

Hydriomena? protrita is known only from one fossil, the holotype, specimen "AMNH-FI-19033". It is a single, complete forewing, preserved as a compression fossil in fine grained shale. The shale specimen is one of a group of fossils obtained in 1909 by George Sternberg, Terry Duce, and Willard Rusk from the Florissant Formation, named for its outcrop around Florissant. The type specimen is currently preserved in the paleoentomological collections housed in the American Museum of Natural History, New York City, USA. H.? protrita was first studied by Dr Theodore D. A. Cockerell of the University of Colorado, with his 1922 type description being published in the journal American Museum Novitates. Though Cockerell did not provide an explicit explanation for the specific epithet protrita The description of the specimen was delayed for five years due expectation that the description of the fossil would be completed by another researcher in 1910. However, after the description failed to be presented, Cockerell wrote the American Museum Novitates article rather than let the fossil continue to go undescribed.