Libellulidae

Libellulidae
Temporal range:
Pantala flavescens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Infraorder: Anisoptera
Superfamily: Libelluloidea
Family:
Leach, 1815[1]
Genera

See text

The chasers, darters, skimmers, and perchers and their relatives form the Libellulidae, the largest family of dragonflies.[2] It is sometimes considered to contain the Corduliidae as the subfamily Corduliinae and the Macromiidae as the subfamily Macromiinae. Even if these are excluded (as Silsby does), there remains a family of over 1000 species. With nearly worldwide distribution, these are the most commonly encountered dragonflies.

The genus Libellula is mostly New World but also has one of the few endangered odonates from Japan: Libellula angelina. Many of the members of this genus are brightly colored or have banded wings. The related genus Plathemis includes the whitetails. The genus Celithemis contains several brightly marked species in the southern United States. Members of the genus Sympetrum are called darters (or meadowhawks in North America) and are found throughout most of the world, except Australia. Several tropical species in the genera Trithemis and Zenithoptera are considered to be especially beautiful. Other common genera include Tramea and Pantala.

Libellulids have stout-bodied larvae with the lower lip or labium developed into a mask over the lower part of the face.

The earliest record of the family is the fossil genus †Palaeolibellula Fleck, Nel & Martinez-Delclos, 1999 from the Turonian of Kazakhstan, which appears to represent a stem-member of the family.[3][4]

Etymology

The family name may have been derived from the Latin libella which means "booklet".

Genera

The Libelluidae contain these genera:

Fossil larvae of Oryctodiplax

The following fossil genera are also known:[5][6]

  • †Caussanelia Nel, Martinez-Delclós, Papier, & Oudard, 1997 (Late Oligocene of France)
  • †Jeanlegrandia Nel, Petrulevicius & Jarzembowski, 2005 (Late Oligocene of France)[7]
  • †Lithemis Fraser, 1951 (mid-late Miocene of Croatia)
  • †Miorhodopygia Riou & Nel, 1995 (Late Miocene of France)
  • †Molertrum Zessin, 2019 (earliest Eocene of Denmark)[8]
  • †Oligocaemia Fraser, 1951 (mid-late Miocene of Croatia)
  • †Oryctodiplax Cavallo & Galetti, 1987 (Late Miocene of Italy)
  • †Palaeolibellula Fleck, Nel & Martinez-Delclos, 1999 (Late Cretaceous of Kazakhstan)[3]
  • †Paleotauriphila Nel & Paicheler, 1993 (Early Oligocene of France)
  • †Palaeotramea Nel & Papazian, 1985 (Late Oligocene to early Miocene of France, Germany & Turkey)
  • †Parabrachydiplax Bechly & Sach, 2002 (Middle Miocene of Germany)[9]
  • †Protopaltothemis Pongrácz, 1928 (Middle Miocene of Croatia)
  • †Prorhyothemis Prokop, Fleck & Nel, 2003 (Early Miocene of the Czech Republic)[10]
  • †Pisaurum Gentilini, 1988 (Late Miocene of Italy)
  • †Randecktrum Zessin, 2019 (early-mid Miocene of Germany)
  • †Sloveniatrum Zessin, Zalohar & Hitij, 2008 (mid-late Miocene of Slovenia)[5]
  • †Trameobasileus Zeuner, 1938 (Early Miocene of Germany)

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]. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.30911.
  2. ^ Tennessen, Kenneth (2019), "Libellulidae", Dragonfly Nymphs of North America, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 407–576, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-97776-8_12, ISBN 978-3-319-97775-1, retrieved 2023-10-16
  3. ^ a b Fleck, G.; Nel, A.; Martı́nez-DelclòS, X. (1999-10-01). "The oldest record of libellulid dragonflies from the Upper Cretaceous of Kazakhstan (Insecta: Odonata, Anisoptera)". Cretaceous Research. 20 (5): 655–658. doi:10.1006/cres.1999.0166. ISSN 0195-6671.
  4. ^ University~mkk24@njit.edu, Manpreet Kaur Kohli~Rutgers; University~jware@amnh.org, Jessica L. Ware~Rutgers; Bechly~Eberhard-Karls-University~guenter.bechly@smns-bw.de, Günter (2016-03-18). "How to date a dragonfly: Fossil calibrations for odonates". Palaeontologia Electronica. Retrieved 2025-08-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ a b ZESSIN, WOLFGANG; ŽALOHAR, JURE; HITIJ, TOMAŽ (2008). "A new fossil dragonfly (Insecta, Odonata, Libellulidae) of the Miocene (Lower-Sarmatian) of the Tunjice Hills, Slovenia" (PDF). Virgo, Mitteilungsblatt des Entomologischen Vereins Mecklenburg 11. Jahrgang, Heft. 1: 86–96.
  6. ^ "PBDB Taxon". paleobiodb.org. Retrieved 2025-08-21.
  7. ^ Petrulevicius, Julian F.; Jarzembowski, Edmund A. (2005-04-21). "New fossil Odonata from the European Cenozoic (Insecta: Odonata: Thaumatoneuridae, Aeshnidae, ?Idionychidae, Libellulidae)". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen: 343–380. doi:10.1127/njgpa/235/2005/343.
  8. ^ Zessin, Wolfgang (2019). "Neue Insekten aus dem Moler (Paläozän/Eozän) von Dänemark, Teil 4 (Orthoptera: Caelifera: Eumastacidae, Ensifera: Gryllidae; Odonata: Libellulidae)" (PDF). Virgo. 22: 56–63.
  9. ^ Bechly, Günter; Sach, Volker J. (2002). "An interesting new fossil dragonfly (Anisoptera: Libellulidae: "Brachydiplacini") from the Miocene of Germany, with a discussion on the phylogeny of Tetrathemistinae and a fossil list for the locality Heggbach". Stuttgarter Beitr. Naturk. B (325).
  10. ^ Prokop, Jakub; Fleck, Günther; Nel, André (2003-09-18). "New dragonflies from the Lower Miocene (Ottnangian/Karpatian) of the Cypris Shale in western Bohemia (Odonata: Libellulidae)". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Monatshefte: 561–576. doi:10.1127/njgpm/2003/2003/561.

Bibliography

  • Silsby, Jill. 2001. Dragonflies of the World. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C.
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