The earliest named lepidopteran taxon is "Archaeolepis mane", a primitive moth-like species from the Early Jurassic, dated back to around , and known only from three wings found in the Charmouth Mudstone of Dorset, UK. The wings show scales with parallel grooves under a scanning electron microscope and a characteristic wing venation pattern shared with Trichoptera (caddisflies). Only two more sets of Jurassic lepidopteran fossils have been found, as well as 13 sets from the Cretaceous, which all belong to primitive moth-like families.