Isostictidae

Isostictidae
Oristicta filicicola
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Suborder: Zygoptera
Superfamily: Coenagrionoidea
Family: Isostictidae
Fraser, 1955

Isostictidae is a family of damselflies in the superfamily Coenagrionoidea. The family comprises more than 40 species in 12 genera and is largely restricted to Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia and neighbouring islands.

Members of the family are slender damselflies that typically inhabit streams and other freshwater habitats. Adults generally lack the bright colours found in many other damselfly families, while the aquatic larvae possess distinctive constricted caudal gills.

Although historically treated as a subfamily of Protoneuridae, Isostictidae is now recognised as a distinct family and represents an early-diverging lineage within Coenagrionoidea.

Diagnosis

Ecology

Adults of Isostictidae have many common names, for example: narrow-wings, pinflies, pins, pondsitters, and wiretails.

Taxonomic history

The family takes its name from the genus Isosticta, established by Selys in 1885 within his Legion Protonevra. At that time, Isosticta was treated as one of several groups within a broad assemblage of damselflies that also included genera now placed in Protoneuridae and Platycnemididae.

Fraser established the subfamily Isostictinae in 1955, recognising a distinctive Australasian lineage within the then broadly defined Protoneuridae. In his subsequent reclassification of the Odonata, Fraser (1957) treated Isostictinae as one of four subfamilies of Protoneuridae, comprising genera from Australia, New Guinea, New Caledonia and neighbouring islands.

More recent studies have shown that the group represents a distinct evolutionary lineage. Dijkstra and colleagues (2013, 2014) recognised Isostictidae as a separate family, a placement supported by subsequent phylogenomic studies.

Genera

The following genera are currently placed in Isostictidae:

Etymology

The family name Isostictidae is derived from the type genus Isosticta, with the standard zoological suffix -idae used for animal families.

The genus name Isosticta is derived from the Greek ἴσος (isos, "equal") and στικτός (stiktos, "spotted" or "marked"), possibly referring to the similar pterostigma. The suffix -sticta is also common in names associated with the Protonerva group of subgenera.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Fraser, F.C. (1955). "A new isostictine dragonfly from Australia with some remarks on the subfamily Isostictinae nov. (Odon., Protoneuridae)". Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 91: 227–230 [227].
  2. 1 2 3 Paulson, D.; Schorr, M.; Abbott, J.; Bota-Sierra, C.; Deliry, C.; Dijkstra, K.-D.; Lozano, F. "World Odonata List". OdonataCentral. University of Alabama. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Dijkstra, Klaas-Douwe B.; Kalkman, Vincent J.; Dow, Rory A.; Stokvis, Frank R.; Van Tol, Jan (2014). "Redefining the damselfly families: A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Zygoptera (Odonata)". Systematic Entomology. 39 (1): 68–96. doi:10.1111/syen.12035.
  4. ↑ "Family ISOSTICTIDAE". Australian Faunal Directory. Australian Biological Resources Study. 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  5. 1 2 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 (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. ISSN 1175-5334.
  6. 1 2 Bybee, S. M.; Kalkman, V. J.; Erickson, R. J.; Frandsen, P. B.; Breinholt, J. W.; Suvorov, A.; Ware, J. L. (2021). "Phylogeny and classification of Odonata using targeted genomics". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 160 107115: 1–15. Bibcode:2021MolPE.16007115B. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107115. hdl:11093/2768. PMID 33609713.
  7. 1 2 Centre for Freshwater Ecosystems. "Isostictidae". Identification and Ecology of Australian Freshwater Invertebrates. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  8. 1 2 Sélys-Longchamps, Edmond (1885). "Programme d'une révision des Agrionines". Comptes-rendus des séances de la Société entomologique de Belgique (in French): 141–146 [145].
  9. ↑ Fraser, F.C. (1957). A reclassification of the order Odonata. Handbook / Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales; 12. Sydney: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. pp. 133 [44].
  10. ↑ Endersby, Ian; Fliedner, Heinrich (2015). The Naming of Australia's Dragonflies. Eltham, Victoria, Australia: Busybird Publishing. ISBN 9781925260625.