Petaluridae

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Petaluridae
Temporal range: Early Cretaceous (Barremian) to present
Tanypteryx pryeri on road.JPG
Tanypteryx pryeri
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Infraorder: Anisoptera
Superfamily: Petaluroidea
Family: Petaluridae
Needham, 1903 [1]
Genera

The petaltails of the family Petaluridae are among the most ancient of the extant true dragonflies (infraorder Anisoptera), [2] having fossil members from as early as the Jurassic, over 150 million years ago. A 2024 molecular phylogeny found that the petaltails comprise two clades, a Gondwanan clade and a Laurasian clade. Their divergence time was estimated at 160 million years ago. [3]

Fossil petaluroid Protolindenia wittei, Upper Jurassic, Solnhofen Plattenkalk Protolindenia wittei 1.jpg
Fossil petaluroid Protolindenia wittei, Upper Jurassic, Solnhofen Plattenkalk

Modern petalurids include only 11 species, one of which, the Australian Petalura ingentissima , is by some measurements the largest of living dragonflies, having a wingspan of up to about 160 mm (6.3 in) and a body length of about 125 mm (4.9 in) ( Tetracanthagyna plagiata of another family can match or exceed its wingspan). Another large Australian species is Petalura gigantea , commonly known as the giant dragonfly. In the United States, two species are found, Tanypteryx hageni in the west and Tachopteryx thoreyi in the east. The larvae live primarily in stream banks, mostly in burrows, but the larvae of the eastern US species, Tachopteryx thoreyi, the gray petaltail, live in depressions under wet leaves. [4] The semiaquatic habitat of the larvae makes the petaltails unique in the modern dragonfly families.

Many fossil dragonfly genera have previously been suggested to belong to the Petaluridae, but currently, the only one that can definitively be placed in the Petaluridae itself is † Argentinopetala from the Early Cretaceous of Argentina. [5] Uniquely, this genus is thought to be a crown group-petalurid most closely related to Phenes . Outside the Petaluridae, several stem-group petalurid families are known, including †Cretapetaluridae from the Late Jurassic or earliest Cretaceous to the early-mid Cretaceous of Great Britan & Brazil, †Aktassidae from the Late Jurassic to early Cretaceous of Germany & China, and †Protolindeniidae from the Late Jurassic of Germany & Australia. While studies have found some of these to be fossil petaluroids, others appear to be paraphyletic with respect to the Gomphidae, and thus further taxonomic revisions are likely necessary. [6]

References

  1. Dijkstra, K.D.B.; et al. (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 .
  2. 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
  3. Tolman, Ethan R.; Beatty, Christopher D.; Kohli, Manpreet K.; Abbott, John; Bybee, Seth M.; Frandsen, Paul B.; Stephen Gosnell, J.; Guralnick, Robert; Kalkman, V. J.; Newton, Lacie G.; Suvorov, Anton; Ware, Jessica L. (2024-11-01). "A molecular phylogeny of the Petaluridae (Odonata: Anisoptera): A 160-Million-Year-Old story of drift and extinction" . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 200: 108185. Bibcode:2024MolPE.20008185T. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2024.108185 . ISSN   1055-7903. PMID   39209047.
  4. Paulson, Dennis R. (2009). Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West. Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0-691-12281-6.
  5. F. Petrulevičius, Julián; Nel, André (2003-02-01). "Oldest Petalurid dragonfly (Insecta: Odonata): a Lower Cretaceous specimen from south Patagonia, Argentina". Cretaceous Research. 24 (1): 31–34. doi:10.1016/S0195-6671(03)00025-9. ISSN   0195-6671.
  6. Tolman, Ethan R.; Beatty, Christopher D.; Kohli, Manpreet K.; Abbott, John; Bybee, Seth M.; Frandsen, Paul B.; Stephen Gosnell, J.; Guralnick, Robert; Kalkman, V. J.; Newton, Lacie G.; Suvorov, Anton; Ware, Jessica L. (2024-11-01). "A molecular phylogeny of the Petaluridae (Odonata: Anisoptera): A 160-Million-Year-Old story of drift and extinction". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 200: 108185. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2024.108185. ISSN   1055-7903.