A new genus and species of damsel-dragonfly from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia (Odonata: Campterophlebiidae)
Abstract
The Campterophlebiidae is the largest family of fossil damsel-dragonflies, containing more than 60 species described from Lower Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous strata of Europe and Asia. This group is especially diverse in the Middle–Late Jurassic strata in Inner Mongolia, northeastern China, with some very large species (Zhang et al., 2006, 2008, 2013; Nel et al., 2007, 2008, 2009; Petrulevičius et al., 2011; Li et al., 2013; Zhang et al., 2013; Zheng et al., 2016, 2017). Thus it is surprising that we found a new representative of these damsel-dragonflies, belonging to a group of genera characterized by a very particular shape of the forewing cubito-anal area. This fossil has a unique shape of the forewing median vein, allowing its attribution to a new genus and species. It increases our knowledge about the palaeobiodiversity of this impressive group of Odonata.