Mesopodagrion
| Mesopodagrion | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Odonata |
| Suborder: | Zygoptera |
| Superfamily: | Mesopodagrionoidea |
| Family: | Mesopodagrionidae Kalkman & Abbott, 2021[1] |
| Genus: | Mesopodagrion McLachlan, 1896[2] |
| Species[3] | |
| |
Mesopodagrion is a genus of damselflies found in southern China and mainland Southeast Asia. It is the only genus in the family Mesopodagrionidae, which is one of two families in the superfamily Mesopodagrionoidea.[1][3]
Species of Mesopodagrion are medium-sized, dark-coloured damselflies with clear wings, swollen postocular lobes, and a characteristic pattern of pale markings on the head, thorax and abdomen.[1] The aquatic nymphs have distinctive large, fan-shaped gills.[1]
Family classification
Mesopodagrion was described by McLachlan in 1896 and placed in the legion Podagrion, a grouping established by Selys for damselflies now known to belong to several distinct families.[2]
Later classifications included the genus in Megapodagrionidae, where it remained for more than a century.[4][5] Molecular studies subsequently showed that the broad concept of Megapodagrionidae comprised several unrelated evolutionary lineages.[6] As a result, Kalkman and Abbott established the monotypic family Mesopodagrionidae in 2021 to accommodate the genus Mesopodagrion.[1]
In 2026, Carter and colleagues subsequently recognised Mesopodagrionidae as one of two families in the superfamily Mesopodagrionoidea.[7][3]
Species
The following species are currently placed in Mesopodagrion:[3]
- Mesopodagrion tibetanum McLachlan, 1896
- Mesopodagrion yachowensis Chao, 1953
Etymology
The family name Mesopodagrionidae is derived from the type genus Mesopodagrion, with the standard zoological suffix -idae used for animal families.
The genus name Mesopodagrion presumably combines the Greek μέσος (mesos, "middle" or "intermediate") with Podagrion, the name of the damselfly group in which McLachlan originally placed the genus. Although McLachlan did not explain the derivation, the name probably refers to an intermediate position within the Podagrion lineage recognised by nineteenth-century odonatologists.[2][8]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Bybee, Seth M.; Kalkman, Vincent J.; Erickson, Robert J.; Frandsen, Paul B.; Breinholt, Jesse W.; Suvorov, Anton; Dijkstra, Klaas-Douwe B.; Cordero-Rivera, Adolfo; Skevington, Jeffrey H.; Abbott, John C.; Sanchez Herrera, Melissa; Lemmon, Alan R.; Moriarty Lemmon, Emily; Ware, Jessica L. (2021). "Phylogeny and classification of Odonata using targeted genomics". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 160 107115: 1–15 [10]. Bibcode:2021MolPE.16007115B. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107115. hdl:11093/2768. PMID 33609713.
- 1 2 3 McLachlan, Robert (1896). "On Odonata from the province of Szechuen, in Western China, and from Moupin in Eastern Thibet". The Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 6. 17: 364–374 [372].
- 1 2 3 4 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 May 2026.
- ↑ Tillyard, R.J. (1917). The biology of dragonflies (Odonata or Paraneuroptera). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 396 [278]. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.35170.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Carter, Payton; Goodman, Aaron; Abbott, John; Bota Sierra, Cornelio; Bybee, Seth M.; Dow, Rory A.; Fomekong Lontchi, Judicael; Frandsen, Paul B.; Gonzalez Mozo, Laura; Guralnick, Rob; Hämäläinen, Matti; Joshi, Shantanu; Kohli, Manpreet K.; Lupiyaningdyah, Pungki; Montana, Katherine O.; Newton, Lacie; Onsongo, Violet; Orr, Albert G.; Pinto, Ângelo Parise; Sanchez-Herrera, Melissa; Sutherland, Laura N.; Theischinger, Gunther; Ware, Jessica L.; Zhang, Haomiao; Kalkman, Vincent J. (2026). "The classification and diversity of extant dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata)". International Journal of Odonatology. 29: 95–124. doi:10.48156/1388.2026.1917385.
- ↑ Brown, Roland Wilbur (1954). Composition of Scientific Words: A Manual of Methods and a Lexicon of Materials for the Practice of Logotechnics. [Washington].