The oldest-known Cymatophlebiinae (Odonata: Aeshnoptera: Cymatophlebiidae) from the Upper Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, northeastern China

ABSTRACT

The dragonfly Aeshnoptera greatly diversified with a wide distribution during the Mesozoic. The genus Cymatophlebia is one of the most diversified aeshnopteran dragonflies, which survived during the Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. In the present study, Cymatophlebia daohugouensis sp. nov. the oldest-known representative of this genus is described from the Middle Jurassic (upper Callovian) Haifanggou Formation of northeastern China. It differs from the other species of Cymatophlebia in having three rows of cells in the postdiscoidal area before the midfork, four-celled discoidal and subdiscoidal triangles, and two rows of cells between Rspl and IR2 basally. This study provides new clues for exploring the early origination and evolution of the cymatophlebiid dragonflies in Laurasia.

KEYWORDS:

• Insecta
• Anisoptera
• Cymatophlebiidae
• Haifanggou Formation
• Middle Jurassic
• China

Acknowledgments

We offer our sincere gratitude to the editors and anonymous reviewers for their very useful comments on the earlier version of this manuscript.

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.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Scientific Research Foundation of Hainan Tropical Ocean University [No. RHDRC202008], the National Natural Science Foundation of China [42372020, 42288201], and the Chinese Academy of Sciences [E221020002].