Gomphoidea
| Gomphoidea Temporal range: [1] | |
|---|---|
_male_Macedonia.jpg) | |
| Bladetail, male, Lindenia tetraphylla North Macedonia | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Odonata |
| Infraorder: | Anisoptera |
| Superfamily: | Gomphoidea Rambur, 1842[2] |
| Families[3] | |
Gomphoidea is a superfamily of dragonflies comprising the families Gomphidae and Petaluridae. It contains 106 genera and about 1,000 species distributed worldwide.[3] The superfamily was redefined in 2026 when molecular phylogenetic studies placed Petaluridae within Gomphoidea.[4]
Taxonomic history
[edit]Gomphoidea was established by Rambur in 1842 to accommodate the family Gomphidae.[2]
Subsequent classifications generally recognised Gomphoidea as containing the family Gomphidae, while Petaluridae was treated as the sole family of Petaluroidea.[5]
In 2026, Carter and colleagues revised the classification of extant Odonata, placing Petaluridae within Gomphoidea based on phylogenomic evidence. The superfamily is now recognised as comprising two extant families, Gomphidae and Petaluridae, a classification that has subsequently been adopted by the World Odonata List.[3][4]
Families
[edit]The following families are currently placed in Gomphoidea:[3][4]
- Gomphidae Rambur, 1842
- Petaluridae Needham, 1903
Phylogeny
[edit]Molecular phylogenetic studies consistently recover Gomphoidea as one of the four principal superfamilies of extant dragonflies. In the classification proposed by Carter and colleagues (2026), the superfamily comprises two sister families, Petaluridae and Gomphidae.[4][6][7]
Fossil record
[edit]Fossils attributable to Gomphidae and Petaluridae are known from the Mesozoic onwards. Gomphidae has an extensive fossil record from the Late Jurassic to the Quaternary, whereas the earliest confirmed petalurid is †Argentinopetala from the Early Cretaceous of Argentina.[1][8][9]
Fossil families
[edit]Several extinct families have also been assigned to Gomphoidea in fossil classifications. The higher-level relationships of these fossils remain under active study, and recent palaeontological classifications commonly employ phylogenetic clades that do not correspond directly to the Linnaean superfamily framework used for extant Odonata.[10][11]
- †Araripegomphidae Bechly, 1996
- †Burmagomphidae Zheng et al., 2017[12]
- †Libanogomphidae Azar & Nel, 2023[13]
- †Paraburmagomphidae Zheng et al., 2018[14]
- †Proterogomphidae Bechly et al., 1998[15]
Etymology
[edit]The superfamily name Gomphoidea is derived from the type genus Gomphus, with the standard zoological suffix -oidea used for superfamilies.
The genus name Gomphus is derived from the Greek γόμφος (gomphos, "bolt" or "nail"), referring to the shape of the abdomen, likened to a bolt used in shipbuilding.[16][17]
References
[edit]- 1 2 Petrulevičius, Julián F.; Nel, André (2003-02-01). "Oldest Petalurid dragonfly (Insecta: Odonata): a Lower Cretaceous specimen from south Patagonia, Argentina". Cretaceous Research. 24 (1): 31–34. Bibcode:2003CrRes..24...31P. doi:10.1016/S0195-6671(03)00025-9. ISSN 0195-6671.
- 1 2 Rambur, Jules (1842). Histoire naturelle des insectes. Névroptères (in French). Paris: Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret. pp. 534 [24] – via Gallica.
- 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 July 2026.
- 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.
- ↑ Dijkstra, Klaas-Douwe B.; Bechly, Günter; Bybee, Seth M.; Dow, Rory A.; Dumont, Henri J.; Fleck, Günther; Garrison, Rosser W.; Hämäläinen, Matti; Kalkman, Vincent J.; Karube, Haruki; May, Michael L.; Orr, Albert G.; Paulson, Dennis R.; Rehn, Andrew C.; Theischinger, Günther; Trueman, John W.H.; Van Tol, Jan; von Ellenrieder, Natalia; Ware, Jessica (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.
- ↑ Kohli, M., Letsch, H., Greve, C., Béthoux, O., Deregnaucourt, I., Liu, S., Zhou, X., Donath, A., Mayer, C., Podsiadlowski, L., Gunkel, S., Machida, R., Niehuis, O., Rust, J., Wappler, T., Yu, X., Misof, B., & Ware, J. (2021). Evolutionary history and divergence times of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) revealed through transcriptomics. IScience, 24(11), 103324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.103324
- ↑ Tolman, Ethan R.; Beatty, Christopher D.; Kohli, Manpreet K.; Abbott, John; Bybee, Seth M.; Frandsen, Paul B.; Stephen Gosnell, J.; Guralnick, Robert; Kalkman, V. J.; Newton, Lacie G.; Suvorov, Anton; Ware, Jessica L. (2024-11-01). "A molecular phylogeny of the Petaluridae (Odonata: Anisoptera): A 160-Million-Year-Old story of drift and extinction". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 200 108185. Bibcode:2024MolPE.20008185T. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2024.108185. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 39209047.
- ↑ "Paleobiology Database: Gomphidae". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
- ↑ "Paleobiology Database: Petaluridae". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
- ↑ "Paleobiology Database". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
- ↑ Huang, Diying; Fu, Yanzhe; Nel, André (2019). "A possible true Mesozoic Gomphidae s. str. from the mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Odonata: Anisoptera)". Cretaceous Research. 95: 341–345. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2018.11.001.
- ↑ Zheng, Daran; Nel, André; Chang, Su-Chin; Jarzembowski, Edmund A.; Zhang, Haichun; Wang, Bo (2018). "A well-preserved true dragonfly (Anisoptera: Gomphides: Burmagomphidae fam. nov.) from Cretaceous Burmese amber". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 16 (10): 881–889. doi:10.1080/14772019.2017.1365100.
- ↑ Azar, Dany; Nel, André (2023). "Libanogomphidae, a new extraordinary dragonfly family from the Upper Cretaceous of Lebanon (Odonata, Anisoptera)". Cretaceous Research. 148 105501. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105501.
- ↑ Zheng, Daran; Jiang, Tian; Nel, André; Jarzembowski, Edmund A.; Chang, Su-Chin; Zhang, Haichun; Wang, Bo (2018). "Paraburmagomphidae fam. nov., a new gomphid dragonfly family (Odonata: Anisoptera) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber". Cretaceous Research. 92: 214–219. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2018.08.017.
- ↑ Kohli, Manpreet Kaur; Ware, Jessica L.; Bechly, Günter (2016). "How to date a dragonfly: Fossil calibrations for odonates". Palaeontologia Electronica 19.1.1FC. doi:10.26879/576.
- ↑ "Etymology". National Museums Ireland. Retrieved 13 October 2024.
- ↑ Endersby, Ian; Fliedner, Heinrich (2015). The Naming of Australia's Dragonflies. Eltham, Victoria, Australia: Busybird Publishing. ISBN 9781925260625.
