Hemiphlebia mirabilis

Hemiphlebia mirabilis, commonly known as the ancient greenling,[5] is a species of damselfly in the family Hemiphlebiidae.[6] It is very small with a long, metallic-green body and clear wings. It is endemic to south-eastern Australia. Its natural swamp habitat is threatened by habitat loss.

Ancient greenling
mating pair

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Suborder: Zygoptera
Family: Hemiphlebiidae
Kennedy, 1920[2]
Genus: Hemiphlebia
Selys, 1869[3]
Species:
H. mirabilis
Binomial name
Hemiphlebia mirabilis
Selys, 1869[4]

This is the only living species of the genus Hemiphlebia and the family Hemiphlebiidae.[7] The oldest representative of the family is Enteropia mongolica from the Late Jurassic (Tithonian) Shar Teeg Beds of Mongolia.

Distribution and habitat

The ancient greenling has been recorded from a small number of scattered sites, including on King Island and in Mount William, Tasmania; in Wilsons Promontory National Park and near Yea, Victoria; and in Piccaninnie Ponds Conservation Park in south-eastern South Australia. Its recorded habitat includes permanent freshwater ponds, riverine lagoons and swamps that may dry out seasonally.[1] A favoured site discovered in 2008, Long Swamp in the Discovery Bay Coastal Park of south-western Victoria, contains extensive areas of twig-rush (Baumea sp.) which is seasonally flooded but dries out by late summer[8][5]

Conservation

The greenling's conservation status was raised from Vulnerable to Endangered in 2008 because of the limited area of habitat occupied, as well as the small and scattered character of the populations, at least some of which were in decline.[1]

  • Female wings
  • Male wings
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References
  1. Dow, R.A. 2019. Hemiphlebia mirabilis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T9891A14278529. Downloaded on 26 July 2019.
  2. Kennedy, C.H. (1920). "The phylogeny of the Zygopterous dragonflies as based on the evidence of the penes". Ohio Journal of Science. 21 (1): 19–29 [25] – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  3. Selys-Longchamps, E. (1869). "Diagnose d'un nouveau genre d'Agrionine". Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique (Comptes-rendus) (in French). 11: lxxi-lxxiv [lxxii] – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  4. Selys-Longchamps, E. (1869). "Diagnose d'un nouveau genre d'Agrionine". Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique (Comptes-rendus) (in French). 11: lxxi-lxxiv [lxxiii] – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  5. Theischinger, Günther; Hawking, John (2006). The Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia. CSIRO Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 0-643-09073-8.
  6. "Species Hemiphlebia mirabilis Selys, 1869". Australian Faunal Directory. Australian Biological Resources Study. 2013. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  7. Vasilenko, D. V. (2005). "New damselflies (Odonata: Synlestidae, Hemiphlebiidae) from the Mesozoic Transbaikalian locality of Chernovskie Kopi" (PDF). Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal. 39 (3): 280.
  8. Richter, Reiner (2010-06-18). "Discovery of New Populations of Hemiphlebia mirabilis (Ancient Greenling)" (PDF). Author. Retrieved 2011-03-26.
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