Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 2 No. 4: (In progress) December 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-12-18
DOI: 10.11646/mesozoic.2.4.1
Page range: 287-292
Abstract views: 41
PDF downloaded: 17

The sixth representative of the endemic Cretaceous Burmese amber family Burmaeshnidae (Odonata: Aeshnoptera)

Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), MNHN, CNRS, SU, EPHE-PSL, UA, CP50, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75005 Paris, France
Oxford University Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PW, UK
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 210008 Nanjing, China; Lebanese University, Faculty of Science II, Natural Sciences Department, Fanar-El-Matn, 26110217 PO Box, Lebanon
Anisoptera diversification Insecta mid-Cretaceous new species Odonata Aeshnoptera

Abstract

A new species of the aeshnopteran family Burmaeshnidae is described and illustrated based on a pair of well-preserved fore- and hind wings in mid-Cretaceous amber from Kachin, northern Myanmar. Burmaeshna bechlyi sp. nov. displays all the diagnostic characters of the family and differs from the type species Burmaeshna azari Huang, Cai, Nel & Bechly, 2017 in several key features. These include a hind wing with a discoidal triangle crossed by a single vein (vs. two in B. azari), an anal loop with four cells (vs. five), and the base of the Mspl is located three cells distal to the discoidal triangle (vs. two). The discovery of Burmaeshna bechlyi sp. nov., alongside the recent descriptions of other odonatan species from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber, highlights the remarkable diversity of true dragonflies in the Burmese amber biota.

References

  1. Bechly, G. (1996) Morphologische Untersuchungen am Flügelgeäder der rezenten Libellen und deren Stammgruppenvertreter (Insecta; Pterygota; Odonata), unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Phylogenetischen Systematik und des Grundplanes der Odonata. Petalura special volume, 2, 1–402.
  2. Bechly, G. (2016) Phylogenetic systematics of Odonata. https://bechly.lima-city.de/phylosys.htm
  3. Bechly, G., Nel, A., Martínez-Delclòs, X., Jarzembowski, E.A., Coram, R., Martill, D., Fleck, G., Escuillié, F., Wisshak, M.M. & Maisch, M. (2001) A revision and phylogenetic study of Mesozoic Aeshnoptera, with description of several new families, genera and species (Insecta: Odonata: Anisoptera). Neue Paläontologische Abhandlungen, 4, 1–219.
  4. Cruickshank, R.D. & Ko, K. (2003) Geology of an amber locality in the Hukawng Valley, northern Myanmar. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 21, 441–455. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1367-9120(02)00044-5
  5. Grimaldi, D. & Ross, A. (2017) Extraordinary Lagerstätten in amber, with particular reference to the Cretaceous of Burma. In: Fraser, N.C. & Sues, H.D. (Eds), Terrestrial conservation Lagerstätten: windows into the evolution of life on land. Dunedin Academic Press, Edinburgh, pp. 287–342. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.12638994.12
  6. Huang, D., Cai, C., Nel, A. & Bechly, G. (2017a) A new dragonfly family from the mid Cretaceous Burmese amber (Odonata: Aeshnoptera: Burmaeshnidae). Cretaceous Research, 78, 8–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2017.05.025
  7. Huang, D., Nel, A. & Cai, C. (2017b) A new Burmese amber hawker dragonfly helps to redefine the position of the aeshnopteran family Burmaeshnidae (Odonata: Anisoptera: Aeshnoidea). Cretaceous Research, 79, 153–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2017.07.020
  8. Liu, P., Fang, R. & Zheng, D. (2024) A new burmaeshnid dragonfly (Odonata, Anisoptera, Aeshnoptera) from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber, north Myanmar. Zootaxa, 5538 (1), 74–78. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5538.1.7
  9. Liu, Y., Li, R., Oestman, M., Shi, C., Ren, D. & Yang, Q. (2025) New damselflies (Odonata: Zygoptera: Burmacoenagrionidae) from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber. Palaeoentomology, 8 (2), 157–165. https://doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.8.2.6
  10. Nel, A., Martínez-Delclòs, X., Paicheler, J.C. & Henrotay, M. (1993) Les ‘Anisozygoptera’ fossiles. Phylogénie et classification (Odonata). Martinia Numéro Hors Série, 3, 1–311.
  11. Riek, E.F. & Kukalová-Peck, J. (1984) A new interpretation of dragonfly wing venation based upon early Carboniferous fossils from Argentina (Insecta: Odonatoidea) and basic character states in pterygote wings. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 62, 1150–1166. https://doi.org/10.1139/z84-166
  12. Ross, A.J. (2025) Supplement to the Burmese (Myanmar) amber checklist and bibliography, 2024. Palaeoentomology, 8 (1), 12-28. https://doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.8.1.4
  13. Shi, G.H., Grimaldi, D.A., Harlow, G.E., Wang, J., Wang, J., Yang, M.C., Lei, W.Y., Li, Q.L. & Li, X.H. (2012) Age constraint on Burmese amber based on U-Pb dating of zircons. Cretaceous Research, 37, 155–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2012.03.014
  14. Wei, G., Shih, C., Ren, D. & Wang, Y. (2019) A new burmaeshnid dragonfly from the mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber elucidating wing base structure of true Odonata. Cretaceous Research, 101, 23–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2019.04.005
  15. Zheng, D. (2021) Odonatans in lowermost Cenomanian Kachin amber: updated review and a new hemiphlebiid damselfly. Cretaceous Research, 118, 104640. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104640
  16. Zheng, D., Chang, S., Jarzembowski, E.A. & Wang, B. (2017) The first aeshnoid dragonfly (Odonata: Anisoptera: Telephlebiidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Cretaceous Research, 72, 105–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2016.12.013