Aeshnoidea

Aeshnoidea Temporal range: Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) to present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Southern hawker (Aeshna cyanea)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Odonata
Infraorder:	Anisoptera
Superfamily:	Aeshnoidea Leach, 1815 [1]
Families
Aeshnidae Leach, 1815 Austropetaliidae Carle & Louton, 1994 See text for fossil families
Synonyms
Aeshnoptera Bechly, 1996

Aeshnoidea is a superfamily of dragonflies that contains two extant families, Aeshnidae and Austropetaliidae. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

This clade also contains these fossil families: ^[5]

• Superfamily Aeshnoidea (=clade Aeshnoptera Bechly, 1996)
  • †Cymatophlebiidae Handlirsch, 1906 ^[6]
  • †Eumorbaeschnidae Bechly et al., 2001 ^[7]
  • †Liupanshaniidae Bechly et al., 2001 ^[8]
  • †Mesuropetalidae Bechly, 1996
  • †Paracymatophlebiidae Bechly et al. 2001
  • †Progobiaeshnidae Bechly, Nel, Martínez-Delclòs et al., 2001 ^[9]
  • †Rudiaeschnidae Bechly et al. 2001
  • Clade AeshnodeaBechly, 1996 (incl. Aeshnidae)
    • †Burmaeshnidae Huang et al., 2017 ^[10]
    • †Enigmaeshnidae Nel et al., 2008 ^[11]
    • †Libanoaeshnidae Azar, Maksoud, Abi-Saad & Nel, 2024 ^[12]
    • †Primumaeshnidae Pouillon & Nel, 2020 ^[13]

The paracymatophlebiid † Sinocymatophlebia and the indeterminate aeshnoid † Propecymatophlebia Huang, Nel & Cai, 2017 ^[14] , known from the Middle Jurassic of China, represent the oldest known crown group dragonflies. ^[5]

References

1. Leach, W.E. (1815). "Entomology". In Brewster, D. (ed.). The Edinburgh Encyclopedia. Vol. 9 (reprint 1830 ed.). Edinburgh: William Blackburn. pp. 57-172 [136].
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; 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.
3. Carvalho, Alcimar do Lago; Pessacq, Pablo (2018), Hamada, Neusa; Thorp, James H.; Rogers, D. Christopher (eds.), "Chapter 14.1 - Superfamily Aeshnoidea" , 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
4. Paulson, D.; Schorr, M.; Abbott, J.; Bota-Sierra, C.; Deliry, C.; Dijkstra, K.-D.; Lozano, F. "World Odonata List". OdonataCentral, University of Alabama.
5. University~[e-mail], Manpreet Kaur Kohli~Rutgers; University~[e-mail], Jessica L. Ware~Rutgers; Bechly~Eberhard-Karls-University~[e-mail], Günter (2016-03-18). "How to date a dragonfly: Fossil calibrations for odonates". Palaeontologia Electronica. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.