ABSTRACT
Aeshna caseneuvensis sp. nov., the second oldest representative of the genus Aeshna, is described and figured from the lowermost Oligocene of Luberon in southeastern France. The oldest described species in this genus is from the uppermost Eocene of Colorado in USA. Their occurrence in very distant areas in an interval of time of less of five millions years strongly suggests that the genus is older, possibly appearing during the middle Eocene, as it is still unknown in the early Eocene odonate faunas. The specimen could be studied thanks to a technique of photograph under UV light newly developed by one of us (RG).
Acknowledgments
We sincerely thank two anonymous referees for their useful comments on the first version of the paper.
We thank the municipality of Caseneuve for authorizing the fieldwork. The field study was supported by the Parc naturel regional du Luberon and the French Research Agency ANR grant ANR-19-ERC7-0007. Finally, we thank Jules Fleury (CEREGE) who provided help with photographs under normal light.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.