Hypolestidae
| Hypolestidae | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Odonata |
| Suborder: | Zygoptera |
| Superfamily: | Calopterygoidea |
| Family: | Hypolestidae Fraser, 1938[1] |
Hypolestidae is a family of damselflies represented today by the Caribbean genus Hypolestes.[2] Species of Hypolestes occur on islands of the Greater Antilles, where they inhabit streams and rivers in forested habitats.[2]
Members of the family are medium-sized damselflies with clear wings that are held open at rest and dark bodies marked with pale yellow patterning.[3] Mature males often develop a conspicuous pale grey pruinosity on the head and thorax.[3]
Hypolestidae represents an isolated evolutionary lineage of damselflies. Although historically grouped with several other unusual genera from Asia, Australia and South America, modern phylogenetic studies recognise Hypolestes as a distinct family.[4][3][5]
Description
Hypolestids are medium-sized damselflies with clear wings and slender dark bodies marked with yellow patterning.[3] Unlike many damselflies, they typically hold their wings open when at rest.[3]
Mature males develop extensive pale grey pruinosity on the head, thorax and terminal abdominal segments.[3] The larvae possess distinctive caudal appendages that are swollen at the base and terminate in long, pointed filaments.[3]
Taxonomic history
The family-group name originated as Hypolestinae, which was established in Fraser's 1938 publication of an unfinished manuscript by Robin Tillyard.[1] In the preface, Fraser explained that the work had been left incomplete by Tillyard's death in 1937 and was published with editorial notes and additions by Fraser.[1]
Tillyard and Fraser placed Hypolestes and the Asian genus Pseudolestes together in Hypolestinae, recognising them as unusual damselflies distinct from most members of Megapodagrionidae.[1]
Fraser later revised this arrangement in 1957. He created the family Pseudolestidae to accommodate a number of geographically isolated and morphologically unusual damselfly genera, and placed Hypolestes within the subfamily Pseudolestinae together with Pseudolestes and several other genera.[4] He regarded these taxa as aberrant lineages that could not be satisfactorily placed within existing families.[4]
Subsequent morphological and molecular studies showed that the genera included in Pseudolestidae do not form a natural group.[3][5] Modern classifications therefore recognise Hypolestes as the sole living genus of the family Hypolestidae.[3][2]
Genera
The following is the only genus currently placed in Hypolestidae:[2][6]
- Hypolestes Gundlach, 1888
Several fossil genera have been assigned to Hypolestidae. These are known from Europe and North America and indicate that the family had a wider historical distribution than its surviving Caribbean representatives.[6]
Etymology
The family name Hypolestidae is derived from the type genus Hypolestes, with the standard zoological suffix -idae used for animal families.
The genus name Hypolestes is derived from the Greek ὑπό (hypo, "under", "below" or "somewhat") and Lestes, a genus of damselflies. The name probably reflects Gundlach's view that the genus was related to, or resembled, Lestes.[7]
References
- ^ a b c d Tillyard, R.J.; Fraser, F.C. (1938). "A reclassification of the order Odonata based on some new interpretations of the venation of the dragonfly wing. Part I". The Australian Zoologist. 9 (2): 125–169 [156] – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- ^ a b c d 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.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Dijkstra, Klaas-Douwe B.; Kalkman, Vincent J.; Dow, Rory A.; Stokvis, Frank R.; et al. (2014). "Redefining the damselfly families: a comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Zygoptera (Odonata)". Systematic Entomology. 39 (1): 68–96. Bibcode:2014SysEn..39...68D. doi:10.1111/syen.12035.
- ^ a b c Fraser, F.C. (1957). A reclassification of the order Odonata. Handbook / Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales; 12. Sydney: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. pp. 133 [62].
- ^ a b 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 107115: 1–15. Bibcode:2021MolPE.16007115B. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107115. hdl:11093/2768. PMID 33609713.
- ^ a b "The Paleobiology Database, family Hypolestidae". Retrieved 2019-05-24.
- ^ Gundlach, Juan (1888–90). Contribución a la Entomología Cubana. No. 2. Part 4. Neurópteros (in Spanish). pp. 189–286 [216].
Further reading
- Garrison, Rosser W. (1997). Poole, Robert W.; Gentili, Patricia (eds.). Odonata. Nomina Insecta Nearctica: A Check List of the Insects of North America. Vol. 4: Non–Holometabolous Orders. Entomological Information Services. pp. 551–580. ISBN 978-1-889002-04-0. Archived from the original on 2019-11-29. Retrieved 2019-05-24.
- Kalkman, V. J. (2013). Studies on phylogeny and biogeography of damselflies (Odonata) with emphasis on the Argiolestidae (PhD). Leiden University. hdl:1887/22953.
- Steinmann, Henrik (1997). Wermuth, Heinz; Fischer, Maximilian (eds.). World Catalogue of Odonata, Volume I: Zygoptera. Das Tierreich. Vol. 110. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-014933-3.
- Westfall, Minter J. Jr.; May, Michael L. (1996). Damselflies of North America. Scientific Publishers. ISBN 978-0-945417-93-4.