Aeshnoidea
| Aeshnoidea Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Southern hawker (Aeshna cyanea) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Odonata |
| Suborder: | Anisoptera |
| Superfamily: | Aeshnoidea Leach, 1815 |
| Families | |
 | |
| Distribution of Aeshnoidea | |
Aeshnoidea is a superfamily of dragonflies comprising the families Aeshnidae and Austropetaliidae.
The superfamily also includes numerous extinct lineages known from Jurassic and Cretaceous fossils.
Taxonomic history
The family-group name Aeshnoidea is attributed to Leach, 1815.
Modern classifications recognise two extant families within the superfamily: Aeshnidae and Austropetaliidae.
In 2016, Kohli and colleagues referred to the clade comprising Aeshnidae and Austropetaliidae as Aeshnoidea, while noting that it had been called Aeshnoptera by Bechly and colleagues.
Taxonomic history
The superfamily Aeshnoidea was established by Leach in 1815.
Modern classifications recognise two extant families within the superfamily: Aeshnidae and Austropetaliidae.
The fossil clade Aeshnoptera, proposed by Bechly in 1996, broadly corresponds to Aeshnoidea and several extinct stem groups.
Phylogeny
Phylogenetic studies support Aeshnoidea as a monophyletic group comprising Aeshnidae and Austropetaliidae.
Within modern dragonflies, Aeshnoidea is generally recovered as the sister group to the remaining extant Anisoptera.
| Anisoptera |
| ||||||
Families
The following families are currently placed in Aeshnoidea:
- Aeshnidae Leach, 1815
- Austropetaliidae Carle & Louton, 1994
Fossil families
The superfamily includes numerous extinct families known from Jurassic and Cretaceous deposits, including:
- †Cymatophlebiidae Handlirsch, 1906
- †Eumorbaeschnidae Bechly et al., 2001
- †Liupanshaniidae Bechly et al., 2001
- †Mesuropetalidae Bechly, 1996
- †Paracymatophlebiidae Bechly et al., 2001
- †Progobiaeshnidae Bechly, Nel, Martínez-Delclòs et al., 2001
- †Rudiaeschnidae Bechly et al., 2001
Additional extinct families closely related to modern aeshnoids include:
- †Burmaeshnidae Huang et al., 2017
- †Enigmaeshnidae Nel et al., 2008
- †Libanoaeshnidae Azar, Maksoud, Abi-Saad & Nel, 2024
- †Primumaeshnidae Pouillon & Nel, 2020
Fossil record
The oldest known crown-group dragonflies are the paracymatophlebiid †Sinocymatophlebia and the indeterminate aeshnoid †Propecymatophlebia, known from the Middle Jurassic of China.
Etymology
The superfamily name Aeshnoidea is derived from the type genus Aeshna and the zoological suffix -oidea, used for superfamilies.
The origin of the genus name Aeshna is uncertain, but it may derive from the Greek αἰσχύνω (aischynō, "to disfigure" or "to tarnish"), possibly through a transcription error.
See also
References
- 1 2 3 Leach, W.E. (1815). "Entomology". In Brewster, D. (ed.). The Edinburgh Encyclopedia. Vol. 9 (reprint 1830 ed.). Edinburgh: William Blackburn. pp. 57-172 [136].
- 1 2 3 4 5 Paulson, D.; Schorr, M.; Abbott, J.; Bota-Sierra, C.; Deliry, C.; Dijkstra, K.-D.; Lozano, F. "World Odonata List". OdonataCentral. University of Alabama.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Dijkstra, Klaas-Douwe B.; Bechly, Günter; Bybee, Seth M.; Dow, Rory A.; Dumont, Henri J.; Fleck, Günther; Garrison, Rosser W.; Hämäläinen, Matti; Kalkman, Vincent J.; Karube, Haruki; May, Michael L.; Orr, Albert G.; Paulson, Dennis R.; Rehn, Andrew C.; Theischinger, Günther; Trueman, John W.H.; Van Tol, Jan; von Ellenrieder, Natalia; Ware, Jessica (2013). "The classification and diversity of dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata). In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (Ed.) Animal Biodiversity: An Outline of Higher-level Classification and Survey of Taxonomic Richness (Addenda 2013)". Zootaxa. 3703 (1): 36–45. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3703.1.9. hdl:10072/61365. ISSN 1175-5334.
- 1 2 3 Carvalho, Alcimar do Lago; Pessacq, Pablo (2018), "Chapter 14.1 - Superfamily Aeshnoidea", in Hamada, Neusa; Thorp, James H.; Rogers, D. Christopher (eds.), Thorp and Covich's Freshwater Invertebrates (Fourth Edition), Academic Press, pp. 367–376, doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-804223-6.00015-9, ISBN 978-0-12-804223-6, retrieved 2023-11-04
- 1 2 3 4 Kohli, Manpreet Kaur; Ware, Jessica L.; Bechly, Günter (2016-03-18). "How to date a dragonfly: Fossil calibrations for odonates". Palaeontologia Electronica 19.1.1FC. doi:10.26879/576. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
- 1 2 Bybee, S.M.; Ogden, T.H.; Branham, M.A.; Whiting, M.F. (2008). "Molecules, morphology and fossils: a comprehensive approach to odonate phylogeny and the evolution of the odonate wing". Cladistics. 24 (4): 477–514. doi:10.1111/j.1096-0031.2007.00191.x. PMID 34879634.
- ↑ Carle, F.L.; Kjer, K.M.; May, M.L. (2008). "Evolution of Odonata, with special reference to Coenagrionoidea (Zygoptera)". Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny. 66: 37–44. doi:10.3897/asp.66.e31679.
- ↑ Davis, R.B.; Nicholson, D.B.; Saunders, E.L.R.; Mayhew, P.J. (2011). "Fossil gaps inferred from phylogenies alter the apparent nature of diversification in dragonflies and their relatives". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 11 (1) 252: 252–261. Bibcode:2011BMCEE..11..252D. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-11-252. PMC 3179963. PMID 21917167.
- ↑ "Paleobiology Database: Aeshnoidea". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
- ↑ Zheng, Daran; Jarzembowski, Edmund A.; Chang, Su-Chin; Wang, Bo; Zhang, Haichun (2018-10-01). "New cymatophlebiid dragonflies from the Lower Cretaceous of China and England (Odonata: Anisoptera: Cymatophlebiinae, Valdaeshninae)". Cretaceous Research. 90: 311–317. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2018.05.003. ISSN 0195-6671.
- ↑ Bechly, Günter; Kin, Adrian (2012). "First record of the fossil dragonfly family Eumorbaeschnidae from the Upper Jurassic of Poland". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. doi:10.4202/app.2011.0194. ISSN 0567-7920.
- ↑ Azar, Dany; Maksoud, Sibelle; Huang, Diying; Nel, André (2019-01-01). "First Lebanese dragonflies (Insecta: Odonata, Aeshnoptera, Cavilabiata) from the Arabo-African mid-Cretaceous paleocontinent". Cretaceous Research. 93: 78–89. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2018.08.025. ISSN 0195-6671.
- ↑ Li, Yongjun; Nel, André; Ren, Dong; Pang, Hong (2012-07-01). "New gomphaeschnids and progobiaeshnids from the Yixian Formation in Liaoning Province (China) illustrate the tremendous Upper Mesozoic diversity of the aeshnopteran dragonflies". Geobios. 45 (4): 339–350. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2011.11.016. ISSN 0016-6995.
- ↑ Huang, Diying; Cai, Chenyang; Nel, André; Bechly, Günter (2017-10-01). "A new dragonfly family from the mid Cretaceous Burmese amber (Odonata: Aeshnoptera: Burmaeshnidae)". Cretaceous Research. 78: 8–12. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2017.05.025. ISSN 0195-6671.
- ↑ Nel, Andre; Neraudeau, Didier; Perrichot, Vincent; Girard, Vincent; Gomez, Bernard (2008). "A New Dragonfly Family from the Upper Cretaceous of France". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 53 (1): 165–168. doi:10.4202/app.2008.0113. ISSN 0567-7920.
- ↑ Azar, Dany; Maksoud, Sibelle; Abi-Saad, Pierre; Nel, Andre (2024-08-22). "A new, to date endemic, family of dragonfly in the mid-Cretaceous fossil fish Konservat-Lagerstätte of Haqel, Lebanon (Odonata: Anisoptera)". Zootaxa. 5497 (1): 142–150. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5497.1.9. ISSN 1175-5334.
- ↑ Pouillon, Jean-Marc; Nel, André (2020-12-01). "The oldest representative of the modern clade Aeshnodea from the Lower Cretaceous Crato Formation, Araripe Basin, NE Brazil (Odonata: Anisoptera)". Cretaceous Research. 116 104580. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104580. ISSN 0195-6671.
- ↑ Huang, Di-ying; Nel, André; Cai, Chenyang (2017-09-01). "An enigmatic hawker dragonfly from the Middle Jurassic of China (Odonata, Aeshnoptera)". PalZ. 91 (3): 459–462. doi:10.1007/s12542-017-0364-6. ISSN 1867-6812.
- ↑ Endersby, Ian; Fliedner, Heinrich (2015). The Naming of Australia's Dragonflies. Eltham, Victoria, Australia: Busybird Publishing. ISBN 9781925260625.
