Tatocnemidoidea

Tatocnemidoidea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Suborder: Zygoptera
Superfamily: Tatocnemidoidea
Racenis, 1959[1]
Families[2]

Tatocnemidoidea is a superfamily of damselflies comprising the families Pentaphlebiidae, Protolestidae and Tatocnemididae.[3][2] Together they include three genera and 21 recognised species distributed in Madagascar and tropical west-central Africa.[2]

Members of the superfamily inhabit forest streams. Although differing in appearance, the three families represent an ancient evolutionary lineage that was formerly included within the broadly defined family Megapodagrionidae before being recognised as distinct through molecular phylogenetic studies.[3][4][5]

Taxonomic history

The genera now placed in Tatocnemidoidea were formerly included within the broadly defined family Megapodagrionidae, which molecular phylogenetic studies showed to comprise several unrelated evolutionary lineages.[4]

Subsequent phylogenomic analyses supported recognition of Tatocnemididae, Pentaphlebiidae and Protolestidae as separate families, and in 2026, Carter and colleagues placed them together in the superfamily Tatocnemidoidea.[3][5]

Phylogeny

Zygoptera

Relationships among living damselfly superfamilies, based on Carter et al. (2026).[3]

Families

The superfamily comprises three monogeneric families:[2]

Etymology

The superfamily name Tatocnemidoidea is derived from the type genus Tatocnemis, with the standard zoological superfamily suffix -oidea.

The genus name Tatocnemis is of uncertain derivation. The suffix -cnemis is from the Greek κνήμη (knēmē, "leg" or "shin"), a component used in several related damselfly genus names such as Priocnemis and Idiocnemis. Kirby did not explain the origin of the prefix Tato- when he established the genus in 1889.[6][7]

References

  1. ↑ Rácenis, Janis (1959). "Notas taxonómicas sobre la familia Megapodagrionidae (Odonata: Zygoptera) con la sinopsis de las especies venezolanas". Acta Biológica Venezuélica (in Spanish). 2: 335–367.
  2. 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.
  3. 1 2 3 4 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.
  4. 1 2 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.
  5. 1 2 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.
  6. ↑ Kirby, W. F. (1889). "Descriptions of new genera and species of Odonata in the collection of the British Museum, chiefly from Africa". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1889: 297–303 [300] – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  7. ↑ Brown, Roland Wilbur (1954). Composition of Scientific Words: A Manual of Methods and a Lexicon of Materials for the Practice of Logotechnics. [Washington].