Odonatoptera

Belongs within: Palaeoptera.
Contains: Pandiscoidalia.

The Odonatoptera contain the living Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) plus all fossil taxa more closely related to odonates than other living insects. The earliest known odonatopterans are recorded from the Upper Carboniferous. These include the Eugeropteridae which resembled contemporaneous Palaeodictyoptera in possessing well-developed pronotal lobes but lacked an archedictyon (Grimaldi & Engel 2005).

Odonatopterans excluding Eugeropteridae (the Holodonata) are united by a slanting thorax and fusion of the MA vein with RP (Grimaldi & Engel 2005). The best known of the basal odonatopterans are the meganeurids which had the largest wingspans of any known insect, up to about 640 mm in Meganeuropsis permiana (Grimaldi & Engel 2005).

Characters (Grimaldi & Engel 2005): Wings with anal region reduced; distinctive form of bracing with kink in CuP where it meets AA; only two articular plates at wing base.

<==Odonatoptera [Libellulida, Libellulidea, Meganeurina, Odonatoidea, Odonatomorpha]
    |  i. s.: Namurotypus [Namurotypidae]RP02
    |           `--N. sippeliRJ93
    |         Titanophasma fayoliRP02
    |         Parahemiphlebia mickoleitiGE05
    |         MesophlebiidaeRJ93
    |           |--Mesophlebia antinodalis Tillyard 1916F71
    |           `--Peraphlebia tetrastichia Jell & Duncan 1986RJ93
    |         SolikamptilonidaeRJ93
    |--Eugeropteridae [Geroptera]GE05
    |    |--Eogeropteron lunatumRP02
    |    `--Geropteron arcuatumRP02
    `--HolodonataGE05
         |--OdonatocladaRP02
         |    |--Campylopteridae [Campylopterodea]RP02
         |    `--PanodialataNB01
         |         |--Lapeyria [Lapeyriidae]NB01
         |         |    `--L. magnifica Nel, Gand & Garric 1999NB01
         |         `--NodialataRP02
         |              |--PandiscoidaliaRP02
         |              `--Ditaxineuroidea [Protanisoptera]RP02
         |                   |  i. s.: Hemizygopteron Zallesskiy 1955NB01
         |                   |--CallimokaltaniidaeRP02
         |                   |--KaltanoneuridaeRP02
         |                   |--Polytaxineura Tillyard 1935NB01 [PolytaxineuridaeRP02]
         |                   |    `--P. stanleyiRJ93
         |                   |--DitaxineuraR70 [DitaxineuridaeGE05]
         |                   |    `--D. anomalostigmaR70
         |                   `--PermaeschnidaeGE05
         |                        |--Permaeschna Martynov 1931NB01
         |                        `--Gondvanoptilon brasilienseRJ93
         `--Protodonata [Meganeuroidea, Meganeuromorpha, Meganisoptera]GE05
              |--KohlwaldiidaeNB01
              |--OligotypusRJ93 [ParalogidaeGE05]
              |    `--O. tillyardiR70
              |--Kargalotypus Rohdendorf 1962 [Kargalotypidae, Kargalotypinae]NB01
              |    `--*K. kargalensis (Martynov 1932) [=Megatypus kargalensis]NB01
              |--ErasipteridaeW79
              |    |--Erasipteroides valentiniGE05
              |    |--Erasipterella piesbergensisRJ93
              |    `--Erasipteron Pruvost 1933W79
              |         |--*E. larischi Pruvost 1933W79
              |         `--E. bolsoveri Whalley 1979W79
              `--MeganeuridaeGE05
                   |--Arctotypus sinuatusGE05
                   |--Meganeuropsis permianaZ02 [incl. M. americanaGE05]
                   |--Meganeura monyiGE05
                   |--Megatypus schuchertiGE05
                   |--Tupus gracilisGE05
                   `--MeganeurulaK-P91

Nomen nudum: Oligotypus britannicusRJ93

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[F71] Fletcher, H. O. 1971. Catalogue of type specimens of fossils in the Australian Museum, Sydney. Australian Museum Memoir 13: 1–167.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[K-P91] Kukalová-Peck, J. 1991. Fossil history and the evolution of hexapod structures. In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 1 pp. 141–179. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[NB01] Nel, A., O. Bethoux, G. Bechly, X. Martínez-Delclòs & F. Papier. 2001. The Permo-Triassic Odonatoptera of the “protodonate” grade (Insecta: Odonatoptera). Annales de la Société Entomologique de France (N.S.) 37 (4): 501–525.

[RP02] Rasnitsyn, A. P., & L. N. Pritykina. 2002. Superorder Libellulidea Laicharting, 1781. Order Odonata Fabricius, 1792. The dragonflies. In: Rasnitsyn, A. P., & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 97–104. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.

[R70] Riek, E. F. 1970. Fossil history. In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers pp. 168–186. Melbourne University Press.

[RJ93] Ross, A. J., & E. A. Jarzembowski. 1993. Arthropoda (Hexapoda; Insecta). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 363–426. Chapman & Hall: London.

[W79] Whalley, P. E. S. 1979. New species of Protorthoptera and Protodonata (Insecta) from the upper Carboniferous of Britain, with a comment on the origin of wings. Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Geology) 32: 85–90.

[Z02] Zherikhin, V. V. 2002. Ecological history of the terrestrial insects. In: Rasnitsyn, A. P., & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 331–388. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.