Euphaeidae
Euphaea fraseri, male
Euphaea fraseri, female
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Suborder: Zygoptera
Superfamily: Calopterygoidea
Family: Euphaeidae
Yakobson & Bianchi, 1905
Subfamilies
  • Eodichromatinae
  • Euphaeinae
Synonyms
  • Epallagidae Needham, 1903[1]

Euphaeidae, sometimes incorrectly named Epallagidae and commonly called gossamerwings, is a family of damselflies in the odonate superfamily Calopterygoidea. The family is small, consisting of around 78 species living species in nine genera occurring in the Palearctic, Australasia, and Asia. The family contains two subfamilies, Euphaeinae, encompassing all the living species and a single fossil genus, and the extinct Eodichromatinae, encompassing fossil genera from the Eocene to late Oligocene.[2] Euphaeid species are large and mostly metallic-coloured, looking similar to species of damselflies in the family Calopterygidae.[3]

The larvae have seven pairs of supplementary gills along the abdomen in addition to the usual three sac-like gills at the tip of the abdomen. Adults have the fore- and hindwings of equal length, barely petiolate and a long pterostigma that is broader in the hindwing. Adults have close veins and numerous antenodals (15-38), and most breed in forest streams.[4][5]

Subfamilies, tribes, and genera

References

  1. ^ Bechly, G. (1998). "New fossil damselflies from Baltic Amber, with description of a new species, a redescription of Litheuphaea carpenteri Fraser, and a discussion on the phylogeny of Epallagidae (Zygoptera: Caloptera)". International Journal of Odonatology. 1 (1): 33–63. Bibcode:1998IJOdo...1...33B. doi:10.1080/13887890.1998.9748092. ISSN 1388-7890.
  2. ^ Archibald, S. B.; Cannings, R. A. (2021). "A new genus and species of Euphaeidae (Odonata, Zygoptera) from the early Eocene Okanagan Highlands locality at Republic, Washington, U.S.A.". Zootaxa. 4966 (3): 392–400. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4966.3.11. PMID 34186607. S2CID 235557114.
  3. ^ Paulson, D.; Schorr, M.; Abbott, J.; Bota-Sierra, C.; Deliry, C.; Dijkstra, K.-D.; Lozano, F. (2023). "World Odonata List". OdonataCentral, University of Alabama. Retrieved 14 Mar 2023.
  4. ^ Hämäläinen, M. (2003). "Cryptophaea, a new euphaeid genus and three new species of Caloptera damselflies from Thailand (Odonata: Euphaeidae, Calopterygidae)". Zool. Med. Leiden. 77 (25): 441–454.
  5. ^ Lok, A. F. S. L. and A. G. Orr (2009). "The biology of Euphaea impar Selys (Odonata: Euphaeidae) in Singapore" (PDF). Nature in Singapore. 2: 135–140.


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