Steleopteridae

Steleopteridae is a family of extinct winged damselflies whose fossils have been found in modern Germany, Great Britain and Kazakhstan, and which lived at the end of the Jurassic and the beginning of the Cretaceous (166.1–130.0 million years ago).[1]

Steleopteron deichmuelleri

Steleopteridae
Temporal range: Jurassic-Cretaceous
Parasteleopteron guischardi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Family: †Steleopteridae
Handlirsch, 1906
Genera
  • †Auliella
  • †Euparasteleopteron
  • †Parasteleopteron
  • †Steleopteron

The family was described by the Austrian paleoentomologist Anton Handlirsch in 1906 on the basis of the fossilised exoskeleton Steleopteron deichmuelleri.[2][3] Hence, the type genus is Steleopteron. Handlirsch assigned the family to the Epiproctophora. In 2001, the family was excuded from the Epiproctophora and transferred into a suborder of winged damselflies, Zygoptera.[4] Until 2018, it had been believed that Steleopteridae became extinct in the Jurassic, but the discovery of Steleopteron cretacicus showed that the family may have become extinct as late as the Cretaceous.[5]

They were fast flying insectivorous/carnivorous predators.[1]

According to the Fossilworks Database website, as of November 2019, the family includes 5 extinct species:[1]

References
  1. "Steleopteridae". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  2. "Steleopteron deichmuelleri". fossilworks.org. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  3. Handlirsch, A. 1906. Die Fossilen Insekten und die Phylogenie der Rezenten Formen, parts I-IV. Ein Handbuch fur Palaontologen und Zoologen 1-640 p.597
  4. Fleck, G., Nel, A., Günter Bechly, G., Delclòs, X. (2001). "Revision and phylogenetic affinities of the Jurassic Steleopteridae Handlirsch, 1906 (Odonata: Zygoptera". Insect Systematics & Evolution. 32 (3): 285–305. doi:10.1163/187631201X00227. ISSN 1876-312X.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link) Request pdf
  5. Zheng. D., Nel, A., Jarzembowski, E.A. (2018). "The first Cretaceous damselfly of the Jurassic family Steleopteridae (Odonata: Zygoptera), from Surrey, England". Cretaceous Research. 93: 1–3. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2018.08.022. ISSN 0195-6671.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
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