| Odonata Temporal range: Middle Triassic–Present | |
|---|---|
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| Fossil of Parahemiphlebia cretacica, a hemiphlebiid damselfly (Zygoptera) from the Crato Formation of Madagascar | |
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| Cretaceous dragonfly (Anisoptera) species Cordualadensa acorni, illustrated by Alex Anderson | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Mandibulata |
| Subphylum: | Hexapoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Superorder: | Odonatoptera |
| Order: | Odonata Fabricius, 1793 |
| Subgroups | |
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Odonata is a clade of four-winged, flying insects that includes dragonlies and damselflies. They evolved in the late Triassic period and diversified in the Jurassic.
Evolution[]
Meganeura as depicted in Walking with Monsters
During the late Carboniferous period, a group of flying insects evolved long abdomens and wings, large eyes, and the ability to fly in many directions. These were the first members of Odonatoptera, a larger clade that includes the modern donates. During the Carboniferous and Early Permian, a group called the griffinflies (Meganisoptera) grew to immense sizes. Meganeura had a wingspan of around 68 cm (27 in), and was one of the largest insect genera of all time.
The griffinflies thrive in and went extinct at the end of the Permian period. During this time, periods of wet and dry conditions dominated paleoenvironments on Earth. To survive, meganeurids and other odonatopterans may have migrated from humid regions to areas with temporary water bodies. Other stem-odonates, such as Protanisoptera and Lapeyriidae also existed at this time. They bore nerve patterns on the wings representing a transition between archaic griffinflies and modern Odonata. After the Great Dying, odonatopteran diversity was small.
Koreatriassothemis elongatus, an odonatoperan from Late Triassic Korea
During the Ladinian stage of the Middle Triassic epoch, the first true members of the Odonata crown group evolved. The most ancient of these known is Triassolestodes asiaticus, a member of the family Triassolestidae. This was about 237 million years BC, when insects and other groups were diversifying.
Epiprocta branched off around the beginning of the Jurassic period. Later in the Jurassic, Anisoptera and Anisozygoptera evolved within this clade. Zygoptera appeared in the fossil record during the Valanginian stage of the Early Cretaceous epoch, about 132.9 MBC.
Today, over 6000 odonate species exist, on all continents except Antarctica.
Taxonomy[]
Transciptome-based phylogeny of odonates from Manpreet Kohli et al. 2021
Scienctific literature describing damselflies and dragonflies dates back to the 1500s. Early naturalists mistakenly believed that the nymph/naiad stage of their lifecycles represented different species.
When Carlus Linnaeus wrote his Systema Naturae work in the mid-1700s, he named a few dragonfly species in the genus Libellula and assigned them to the Palaeoptera "order" (now ranked higher). In 1793, Dutch zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius established the Odonata order. Later in the 19th century, several species were scientifically described. Belgin biologist Edmond de Sélys Longchamps, in 1854, erected the suborders Zygoptera and Anisoptera to classify damselflies and dragonflies, respectively, based different wings.
Description[]
Nymph of Sona nectes, an extinct small darner (neoanisopteran)
Odonates lay their eggs in or near water. The larval form, called a naiad (in the case of damselflies) or nymph (for dragonflies) exhibits an aquatic lifestyle, voraciously hunting small invertebrates in ponds and streams. When fully grown, after a stage of incomplete metamorphosis, adult odonates remain hunters, flying after insects with four long wings of about equal size.
A silver wisp, Agriocnemis argentea, one of the smallest Odonata
Damselflies and dragonflies vary considerably in size. The smallest known odonate of all time are wisps in the damselfly genus Agriocnemis. Some have Wingspan of just 1.7 cm (0.7 in). The largest extant odonate (in terms of wing size) is also a zygopteran; the blue-winged helicopter, Megaloprepus caerulatus, has a wingspan of 19 cm (7.5 in). Female odonates are usually larger than males, with that latter species being an exception.
Prehistoric dragonflies grew to significant sizes, too. The Petalurida clade regularly had members with wingspan of around 17.8 cm (7 in), mainly in the Jurassic period.
References[]
Evolution
- Kohli, Manpreet Kaur; Ware, Jessica L.; Bechly, Günter (2016). "How to date a dragonfly: Fossil calibrations for odonates". Palaeontologia Electronica. 19 (1): 576. Bibcode:2016PalEl..19..576K. doi:10.26879/576.
- Kohli, M., Letsch, H., Greve, C., Béthoux, O., Deregnaucourt, I., Liu, S., Zhou, X., Donath, A., Mayer, C., Podsiadlowski, L., Gunkel, S., Machida, R., Niehuis, O., Rust, J., Wappler, T., Yu, X., Misof, B., & Ware, J. (2021). Evolutionary history and divergence times of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) revealed through transcriptomics. iScience, 24(11), 103324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.103324
- Nel, Andre & Fleck, Gunther & GARROUSTE, Romain & Gand, Georges. (2008). The Odonatoptera of the Late Permian Lodève Basin (Insecta). Journal of Iberian Geology.
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016699599800837
Taxonomy
Description
- https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/odonates-14164/
- May, ML (28 February 2019). "Odonata: Who They Are and What They Have Done for Us Lately: Classification and Ecosystem Services of Dragonflies". Insects. 10 (3): 62. doi:10.3390/insects10030062. PMC 6468591. PMID 30823469.