Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5278 No. 2: 5 May 2023
Type: Article
Published: 2023-05-05
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5278.2.4
Page range: 289-317
Abstract views: 291
PDF downloaded: 163

The damselfly genus Furagrion Petrulevičius et al. (Odonata, Zygoptera) from the early Eocene Fur Formation of Denmark and the dysagrionoid grade

Beaty Biodiversity Museum; University of British Columbia; Vancouver; British Columbia; Canada; Museum of Comparative Zoology; 26 Oxford Street; Cambridge; Massachusetts; 02138; United States of America
Division of Invertebrate Zoology; American Museum of Natural History; New York; New York; 10024; United States of America
Museum Mors; Skarrehagevej 8; DK-7950 Nykøbing Mors; Denmark; Natural History Museum of Denmark; Øster Voldgade 5-7; DK-1350 Copenhagen K; Denmark
Fur Museum; Nederby 28; DK-7884 Fur; Denmark
Natural History Museum Aarhus; Wilhelm Meyers Allé 10; Aarhus; DK-8000 Aarhus C; Denmark
Natural History Museum Aarhus; Wilhelm Meyers Allé 10; Aarhus; DK-8000 Aarhus C; Denmark
Odonata Zygoptera Cephalozygoptera Furagrion jutlandicus Furagrion morsi

Abstract

The earliest Eocene odonate genus Furagrion Petrulevičius et al. from the Danish Fur Formation is revised based on eighteen specimens, two of which apparently have been lost since their publication. The holotype of Phenacolestes jutlandicus Henriksen, type species of Furagrion, is incomplete and lacks the characters currently used to differentiate species, genera and higher taxa in Odonata. We, therefore, propose that the holotype is set aside and a recently discovered nearly complete Fur Formation fossil is designated as neotype. Furagrion possesses all of the nine wing character states currently used along with head shape for diagnosing the Dysagrionidae; however, Furagrion has a characteristically zygopteran head, not the distinctive head shape of the suborder Cephalozygoptera. We, therefore, treat it as a zygopteran unassigned to family. These nine wing character states appear in different combinations not only in various Zygoptera and Cephalozygoptera, but also in the Frenguelliidae, an Eocene family of Argentina that may represent an unnamed suborder. We recognise these taxa as constituting a dysagrionoid grade, in which these character states appear either convergently or as symplesiomorphies. Furagrion morsi Zessin is synonymized with Phenacolestes jutlandicus Henriksen, syn. nov. and Morsagrion Zessin with Furagrion Petrulevičius, Wappler, Wedmann, Rust, and Nel, syn. nov.

 

References

  1. Archibald, S.B. & Cannings, R.A. (2021) The head of Cephalozygoptera (Odonata). Zootaxa, 5047 (1), 97–100. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5047.1.10 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5047.1.10
  2. Archibald, S.B., Cannings, R.A., Erickson, R.J., Bybee, S.M. & Mathewes, R.W. (2021) The Cephalozygoptera, a new, extinct suborder of Odonata with new taxa from the early Eocene Okanagan Highlands, western North America. Zootaxa, 4934 (1), 1–133. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4934.1.1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4934.1.1
  3. Archibald, S.B. & Cannings, R.A. (2022) The first Odonata from the early Eocene Allenby Formation of the Okanagan Highlands, British Columbia, Canada (Anisoptera, Aeshnidae and cf. Cephalozygoptera, Dysagrionidae). The Canadian Entomologist, 154 (e29), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.4039/tce.2022.16 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4039/tce.2022.16
  4. Bechly, G. (1996) Morphologische Untersuchungen am Flügelgeäder der rezenten Libellen und deren Stammgruppenvertreter (Insecta; Pterygota; Odonata) unter besonderer Berüchsichtigung der Phylogenetischen Systematik und des Grundplanes der Odonata. Petalura, Böblingen, Special Volume 2, 1–402.
  5. 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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107115 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107115
  6. Campion, H. (1913) The antenodal reticulation of the wings of agrionine Dragonflies. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 65, 220–224.
  7. Carpenter, F.M. (1992) Superclass Hexapoda. In: Kaesler, R.L. (Ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Part R. Arthropoda 4. Vols. 3 & 4. The Geological Society of America, Boulder, Colorado & University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, pp. 1–655.
  8. Cockerell, T.D.A. (1908a) Fossil insects from Florissant, Colorado. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 24, 59–69.
  9. Davis, J.C. (1986) Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology. 2nd Edition. John Wiley and Sons, New York, New York, 656 pp.
  10. Dijkstra, K.-D.B., Kalkman, V.J., Dow, R.A., Stokvis, F.R. & van Tol, J. (2014) Redefining the damselfly families: the first comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Zygoptera (Odonata). Systematic Entomology, 39, 68–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12035 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12035
  11. Fraser, F.C. (1957) A reclassification of the order Odonata, Based on Some New Interpretations of the Venation of the Dragonfly Wing By the late R. J. Tillyard and F. C. Fraser, Revision. Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Sydney, 133 pp.
  12. Garrison, R.W., von Ellenrieder, N. & Louton, J.A. (2010) Damselfly genera of the New World: an illustrated and annotated key to the Zygoptera. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, 490 pp.
  13. Garrouste, R. & Nel, A. (2015) New Eocene damselflies and the first Cenozoic damseldragonfly of the isophlebiopteran lineage (Insecta: Odonata). Zootaxa, 4028 (3), 354–366. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4028.3.2
  14. Garrouste, R. & Nel, A. (2019) Alaskan Palaeogene insects: a challenge for a better knowledge of the Beringian ‘route’ (Odonata: Aeshnidae, Dysagrionidae). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 17, 1939–1946. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2019.1572235 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2019.1572235
  15. Greenwood, D.R., Archibald, S.B., Mathewes, R.W. & Moss, P.T. (2005) Fossil biotas from the Okanagan Highlands, southern British Columbia and northern Washington State: climates and ecosystems across an Eocene landscape. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 42, 167–185. https://doi.org/10.1139/E04-100 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1139/e04-100
  16. Hammer, Ø, Harper, D.A.T. & Ryan, P.D. (2001) PAST: Paleontological Statistics Software Package for Education and Data Analysis. Palaeontologia Electronica, 4 (1), Art. 4, 1–9, 178 kb. [http://palaeo-electronica.org/2001_1/past/issue1_01.htm]
  17. Hammer, Ø & Harper, D.A.T. (2006) Paleontological Data Analysis. Blackwell Publishing, Malden, 368 pp. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470750711
  18. Henriksen, K. (1922) Eocene insects from Denmark. Danmarks Grologiske Undersøgelser, II Række, 37, 1–36. DOI: https://doi.org/10.34194/raekke2.v37.6823
  19. Huang, D., Azar, D., Cai, C., Maksoud S., Nel, A. & Bechly, G. (2017) Mesomegaloprepidae, a remarkable new damselfly family (Odonata: Zygoptera) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Cretaceous Research, 73, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2017.01.003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2017.01.003
  20. 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, 103324. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.103324
  21. Madsen, H. & Nel, A. (1997) Two new fossil species of Gomphaeschna Selys, 1871 in the Paleocene/Eocene of Denmark (Odonata: Aeshnoidea). Annales de la Société entomologique de France, New Series, 33, 285–293.
  22. Madsen, H. & Rasmussen, J.A. (2021) Geologien fortæller: Moler og Fossiler/What geology tells: The mo-clay and its fossils. Museum Mors, Nykøbing Mors, 103 pp. [ISBN 87-87566-91-5]
  23. Nel, A. (2022) A new genus and species of damselfly (Zygoptera, ‘Megapodagrionidae’ sensu lato) from the Lower Eocene Green river Formation in USA. Historical Biology, 1–5. [published online] https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2022.2136033 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2022.2136033
  24. Nel, A. & Arillo, A. (2006) The first Baltic amber dysagrionine damselfly (Odonata: Zygoptera: Thaumatoneuridae: Dysagrioninae). Annales de la Société entomologique de France, New Series, International Journal of Entomology, 42, 179–182. https://doi.org/10.1080/00379271.2006.10700621 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00379271.2006.10700621
  25. Nel, A. & Fleck, G. (2014) Dragonflies and damselflies (Insecta: Odonata) from the Late Eocene of the Isle of Wight. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 104, 283–306. https://doi.org/10.1017/S175569101400005X DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S175569101400005X
  26. Nel, A. & Jouault, C. (2022) The odonatan insects from the Paleocene of Menat, central France. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 67, 631–648. https://doi.org/10.4202/app.00960.2021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4202/app.00960.2021
  27. Nel, A. & Paicheler, J.-C. (1994) Les Lestoidea fossiles. Un inventaire critique (Odonata, Zygoptera). Annales de Paléontologie, 90, 1–59. (rang B)
  28. Nel, A. & Zheng, D. (2021) The recently proposed odonatan ‘suborder’ Cephalozygoptera: fact or fiction. Palaeoentomology, 004, 165–170. https://doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.4.2.5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/palaeoentomology.4.2.5
  29. Nel, A., Petrulevičius, J.F., Gentilini, G. & Martínez-Delclòs, X. (2005a) Phylogenetic analysis of the Cenozoic family Sieblosiidae (Insecta: Odonata), with description of new taxa from Russia, Italy and France. Geobios, 38, 219–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geobios.2003.10.007 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geobios.2003.10.007
  30. Nel, A., Petrulevičius J.F. & Jarzembowsk, E.A. (2005b) New fossil Odonata from the European Cenozoic (Insecta: Odonata: Thaumatoneuridae, Aeshnidae, ?Idionychidae, Libellulidae). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen, 235, 343–380. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1127/njgpa/235/2005/343
  31. Nel, A., Poschmann, M.J. & Wedmann, S. (2020) New dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata) from the late Oligocene of Enspel (Rhineland-Palatinate, SW Germany). Palaeontologia Electronica, 23 (3), a59. https://doi.org/10.26879/1126 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26879/1126
  32. Nel, A., Simov, N., Bozukov, V. & Marinov, M. (2016) New dragonflies and damselflies from Middle Miocene deposits in SW Bulgaria (Insecta: Odonata). Palaeontologia Electronica, 19.3.35A, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.26879/642 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26879/642
  33. Pedersen, G.K., Pedersen, S.A.S., Bonde, N., Heilman-Clausen, C., Larsen, L.M., Lindow, B.E.K., Madsen, H., Pedersen, A. K., Rust, J., Schultz, B.P. & Storey, M. (2012) Molerområdets geologi—sedimenter, fossiler, askelag og glacialtektonik [in Danish]. Geologisk Tidsskrift 2011, 41–135.
  34. Petrulevičius, J.F. (2017) First Frenguelliidae (Insecta: Odonata) from the middle Eocene of Río Pichileufú, Patagonia, Argentina. Arquivos Entomolóxicos, 18, 367–374.
  35. Petrulevičius, J.F.& Nel, A. (2003) Frenguelliidae, a new family of dragonflies from the earliest Eocene of Argentina (Insecta: Odonata): phylogenetic relationships within Odonata. Journal of Natural History, 37 (24), 2909–2917. https://doi.org/10.1080/0022293021000007543 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0022293021000007543
  36. Petrulevičius, J.F., Wappler, T., Wedmann, S., Rust, J. & Nel, A. (2008) New Megapodagrionid Damselflies (Odonata: Zygoptera) from the Paleogene of Europe. Journal of Paleontology, 82, 1173–1181. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1666/07-091.1
  37. Rehn, A.C. (2003) Phylogenetic analysis of higher-level relationships of Odonata. Systematic Entomology, 28, 181–239. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-3113.2003.00210.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-3113.2003.00210.x
  38. Rubino, E., Leier, A., Cassel, E.J., Archibald S.B., Foster-Baril, Z. & Barbeau Jr., D.L. (2021) Detrital zircon U-Pb ages and Hf-isotopes from Eocene intermontane basin deposits of the southern Canadian Cordillera. Sedimentary Geology, 422 (2021), 105969. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2021.105969 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2021.105969
  39. Rust, J. (1999) Biologie der Insekten aus dem ältesten Tertiär Nordeuropas. Habilitationsschrift zur Erlangung der venia legendi für das Fach Zoologie. Postdoctoral thesis, Biologische Fakultät der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Lower Saxony, 482 pp.
  40. Rust, J, Petrulevičius, J.F. & Nel, A. (2008) The first damselflies from the lowermost Eocene of Denmark, with a description of a new subfamily (Odonata, Zygoptera, Dysagrionidae). Palaeontology, 51, 709–713. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00780.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00780.x
  41. Scudder, S.H. (1878) An account of some insects of unusual interest from the Tertiary rocks of Colorado and Wyoming. Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, 4, 519–543.
  42. Simonsen, T.J., Archibald, S.B., Rasmussen, J.A., Sylvestersen, R.L., Olsen, K. & Ware, J.L. (2022) Danowhetaksa gen. Nov. With two species from the early Eocene Ølst Formation from Denmark, the first Palearctic Whetwhetaksidae (Odonata: Cephalozygoptera). Zootaxa, 5099 (5), 586–592. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5099.5.5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5099.5.5
  43. Storey, M., Duncan, R.A. & Swisher, C.C. (2007) Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum and the Opening of the Northeast Atlantic. Science, 316 (5824), 587–589. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1135274 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1135274
  44. Stokke, E.W., Jones, M.T., Tierney, J.E., Svensen, H.H. & Whiteside, J.H. (2020) Temperature changes across the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum—a new high-resolution TEX86 temperature record from the Eastern North Sea Basin. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 544, 116388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116388 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116388
  45. Suvorov, A., Scornavacca, C., Fujimoto, M.S., Bodily, P., Clement, M., Crandall, K.A., Whiting, M.F., Schrider, D.R. & Bybee, S.M. (2022) Deep ancestral introgression shapes evolutionary history of dragonflies and damselflies. Systematic Biology, 71, 526–546. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syab063 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syab063
  46. Tann, J. (2021) Images of Australian Odonata Wings. Technical Reports of the Australian Museum Online, 33, 1–101. https://doi.org/10.3853/j.1835-4211.33.2021.1767 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3853/j.1835-4211.33.2021.1767
  47. Tillyard, R.J. & Fraser, F.C. (1939) A reclassification of the order Odonata based on some new interpretations of the dragonfly wing by R.J. Tillyard, continuation thereof by F.C. Fraser, Part II, the suborder Zygoptera (continued), Protanisoptera. Australian Zoologist, 9, 195–221.
  48. Xia, G., Zheng, D., Krieg-Jacquier, R., Fan, Q., Chen, Y. & Nel, A. (2022) The oldest-known Lestidae (Odonata) from the late Eocene of Tibet: palaeoclimatic implications. Geological Magazine, 159, 511–518. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756821001102 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0016756821001102
  49. Zessin, W. (2011) Neue Insekten aus dem Moler (Paläozän/Eozän) von Dänemark Teil 1 (Odonata: Epallagidae, Megapodagrioniidae), Virgo, Mitteilungsblatt des Entomologischen Vereins Mecklenburg, 14, 64–73.
  50. Zheng, D., Chang, S.-C., Nel, A., Jarzembowski, E.A., Zhuo, D. & Wang, B. (2017) Electrodysagrion lini gen. et sp. nov., the oldest Dysagrionini (Odonata: Zygoptera: Dysagrionidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Cretaceous Research, 77, 44–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2017.05.008 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2017.05.008
  51. Zheng, D., Wang, B. Jarzembowski, E.A. Chang, S.-C. & Nel, A. (2016a) Burmadysagrioninae, a new subfamily (Odonata: Zygoptera: Dysagrionidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Cretaceous Research, 67, 126–132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2016.07.006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2016.07.006
  52. Zheng, D., Zhang, Q., Nel, A., Jarzembowski, E.A., Zhou, Z., Chang, S.-C. & Wang, B. (2016b) New damselflies (Odonata: Zygoptera: Hemiphlebiidae, Dysagrionidae) from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. Alcheringa, 41, 12–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2016.1164402 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2016.1164402