Lestoideidae

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Lestoideidae
Diphlebia coerulescens
Lestoidea barbarae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Suborder: Zygoptera
Superfamily: Calopterygoidea
Family: Lestoideidae
Munz, 1919[1]
Type genus
Lestoidea
Genera

Lestoideidae is a family of damselflies found in Australia, New Guinea and Southeast Asia.[3][4] The family contains the genera Diphlebia and Lestoidea, comprising nine described species.[5]

Members of the family are stream-dwelling damselflies. Although the broad-winged Diphlebia species differ markedly in appearance from the more slender Lestoidea species, modern studies indicate that they share a common ancestry and form a distinct evolutionary lineage.[6][7]

Lestoideidae is the sister group of the predominantly Asian family Euphaeidae and represents one of the oldest lineages of living damselflies.[7][8]

Description

Members of Lestoideidae are stream-dwelling damselflies found in Australia, New Guinea and Southeast Asia.[3]

The family contains two rather different genera. Species of Diphlebia are large, robust damselflies, often brightly marked with blue, green, black or white colouration and, in some species, conspicuous wing markings. They are commonly known as rockmasters and are associated with streams and rivers where the larvae live among rocks, cobbles and other submerged substrates.[9]

Species of Lestoidea are medium-sized to large damselflies with dark brown or black bodies marked with dull orange, greenish or bluish colouration.[9] They are confined to north-eastern Australia, where they inhabit rainforest streams.[9] Unlike Diphlebia, they have very elongate pterostigmata and a greatly reduced anal vein, features that contributed to their recognition as a distinct lineage.[1][9]

Although the two genera differ considerably in appearance, similarities in larval morphology and wing venation indicate a close evolutionary relationship.[6][7]

Taxonomic history

Tillyard established the genus Lestoidea in 1913 and regarded it as sufficiently distinctive to warrant a separate legion within the damselflies.[2] Munz (1919) subsequently recognised this lineage as the subfamily Lestoideinae.[1]

For much of the twentieth century, Lestoidea and Diphlebia were treated as unrelated lineages.[10] In a study of pterostigma morphology, Heymer (1975) argued that Diphlebia differed sufficiently from Amphipterygidae to justify recognition of a separate family, Diphlebiidae.[11]

Novelo-Gutiérrez (1995) later proposed that the apparently dissimilar genera Diphlebia and Lestoidea shared important larval and venational characters and should be classified together.[6] Because Lestoideidae Munz, 1919 predates Diphlebiidae Heymer, 1975, the older name has priority.[7][8]

Subsequent molecular studies confirmed the close relationship of the two genera and identified them as the sister group of Euphaeidae. Modern classifications therefore place both genera within Lestoideidae.[6][7][8]

Genera

The following genera are currently placed in Lestoideidae:[5]

Note: It is important to distinguish the genus Lestoidea from the superfamily Lestoidea. They have the same spelling, but the superfamily is based on the genus Lestes.

Etymology

The family name Lestoideidae is derived from the type genus Lestoidea, with the standard zoological suffix -idae used for animal families. The genus name Lestoidea is derived from Lestes and the Greek suffix -οειδής (oeidēs, "resembling" or "having the form of"), indicating resemblance to that genus.[2][12]

References

  1. Munz, P.A. (1919). "A venational study of the suborder Zygoptera (Odonata) with keys for the identification of genera". Memoirs of the American Entomological Society. 3: 1–78 [17] – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  2. Tillyard, R.J. (1913). "On some new and rare Australian Agrionidae (Odonata)". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 37 (1912): 404–479 [428]. Bibcode:1913PLSNS..37..404T. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.22352 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  3. "Family LESTOIDEIDAE". Australian Faunal Directory. Australian Biological Resources Study. 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  4. Dijkstra, K.D.B.; et al. (2013). "The classification and diversity of dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata). In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (Ed.) Animal Biodiversity: An Outline of Higher-level Classification and Survey of Taxonomic Richness (Addenda 2013)". Zootaxa. 3703 (1): 36–45. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3703.1.9. hdl:10072/61365.
  5. Paulson, D.; Schorr, M.; Abbott, J.; Bota-Sierra, C.; Deliry, C.; Dijkstra, K.-D.; Lozano, F. "World Odonata List". OdonataCentral. University of Alabama. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  6. Novelo-Gutiérrez, Rodolfo (1995). "The larva of Amphipteryx and a reclassification of Amphipterygidae sensu lato, based upon the larvae (Zygoptera)". Odonatologica. 24: 73–87.
  7. Dijkstra, Klaas-Douwe B.; Kalkman, Vincent J.; Dow, Rory A.; Stokvis, Frank R.; Van Tol, Jan (2014). "Redefining the damselfly families: A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Zygoptera (Odonata)". Systematic Entomology. 39 (1): 68–96. doi:10.1111/syen.12035.
  8. Bybee, S. M.; Kalkman, V. J.; Erickson, R. J.; Frandsen, P. B.; Breinholt, J. W.; Suvorov, A.; Ware, J. L. (2021). "Phylogeny and classification of Odonata using targeted genomics". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 160: 1–15. Bibcode:2021MolPE.16007115B. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107115. hdl:11093/2768. PMID 33609713.
  9. Theischinger, Günther; Hawking, John (2021). The Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia (2nd ed.). Melbourne, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. ISBN 9781486313747.
  10. Bridges, Charles A. (1994). Catalogue of the family-group, genus-group and species-group names of the Odonata of the world (3rd ed.). Urbana, Illinois: Charles A. Bridges. p. II.1. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.15291.
  11. Heymer, Armin (1975). "Der stammesgeschichtliche Aussagewert der Pterostigma-Oberflächenfeinstruktur bei Odonaten". Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research (in German). 13: 81–91 [84]. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0469.1975.tb00501.x.
  12. Endersby, Ian (2012). "Etymology of the Dragonflies (Insecta: Odonata) named by R.J. Tillyard, F.R.S." Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 134: 1–16.