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
Clade:	Pancrustacea
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Odonata
Infraorder:	Anisoptera
Superfamily:	Aeshnoidea Leach, 1815[1]
Families
Aeshnidae Leach, 1815 Austropetaliidae Carle & Louton, 1994
Synonyms
Aeshnoptera Bechly, 1996

Aeshnoidea is a superfamily of dragonflies comprising the families Aeshnidae and Austropetaliidae.^[2][3][4]

The superfamily also includes numerous extinct lineages known from Jurassic and Cretaceous fossils.^[5]

Taxonomic history

The superfamily Aeshnoidea was established by Leach in 1815.^[1]

Modern classifications recognise two extant families within the superfamily: Aeshnidae and Austropetaliidae.^[2][3][4]

The fossil clade Aeshnoptera, proposed by Bechly in 1996, broadly corresponds to Aeshnoidea and several extinct stem groups.^[5]

Phylogeny

Phylogenetic studies support Aeshnoidea as a monophyletic group comprising Aeshnidae and Austropetaliidae.^[6][7][8][2]

Within modern dragonflies, Aeshnoidea is generally recovered as the sister group to the remaining extant Anisoptera.^[6][2]

Anisoptera	Aeshnoidea Other dragonflies

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.^[9]

Extant families

• Aeshnidae
• Austropetaliidae

Fossil families

The superfamily includes numerous extinct families known from Jurassic and Cretaceous deposits, including:

• †Cymatophlebiidae Handlirsch, 1906^[10]
• †Eumorbaeschnidae Bechly et al., 2001^[11]
• †Liupanshaniidae Bechly et al., 2001^[12]
• †Mesuropetalidae Bechly, 1996
• †Paracymatophlebiidae Bechly et al., 2001
• †Progobiaeshnidae Bechly, Nel, Martínez-Delclòs et al., 2001^[13]
• †Rudiaeschnidae Bechly et al., 2001

Additional extinct families closely related to modern aeshnoids include:

• †Burmaeshnidae Huang et al., 2017^[14]
• †Enigmaeshnidae Nel et al., 2008^[15]
• †Libanoaeshnidae Azar, Maksoud, Abi-Saad & Nel, 2024^[16]
• †Primumaeshnidae Pouillon & Nel, 2020^[17]

Fossil record

The oldest known crown-group dragonflies are the paracymatophlebiid †Sinocymatophlebia and the indeterminate aeshnoid †Propecymatophlebia, known from the Middle Jurassic of China.^[18][5]

See also

• List of dragonflies of the world

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. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. Endersby, Ian; Fliedner, Heinrich (2015). The Naming of Australia's Dragonflies. Eltham, Victoria, Australia: Busybird Publishing. ISBN 9781925260625.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. 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.