Family CALOPTERYGIDAE

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Introduction

The family Calopterygidae is moderately large and cosmopolitan (cf. Davies 1981), but only one species, Neurobasis (Calopteryginae), has been recorded from Australia. No recent material is available and the status and identity of the Australian species is uncertain. Several allied species of Neurobasis occur abundantly in New Guinea and adjacent northern islands.

The generic name Calopteryx Leach, 1815, on which the family name is based, has had a chequered history, hinging on the usage of the generic name Agrion Fabricus, 1775 (cf. Montgomery, 1954; 1962). Leach (1815) fixed Libellula virgo Linnaeus, 1758, as type species of Calopteryx (as Calepteryx, evidently a printer's error); Libellula puella Linnaeus thereby became type species of Agrion, by elimination. Latreille (1810) had, however, already selected Libellula virgo Linnaeus, 1758 as type species of Agrion, a neglected designation validated by Opinion 11 of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature in 1910 (Montgomery 1954). On the basis on Latreille's selection, Kirby (1890) suppressed Calopteryx in favour of Agrion and proposed the name Coenagrion for a genus with Libellula puella Linnaeus, 1758 as type. The rejection by many odonatists of Kirby's change in long-established usage, and the resulting confusion in names of both genus group and family group, have caused so many problems that there is now tacit agreement among odonatists that the name Agrion should be set aside and the unambiguous names Calopteryx and Coenagrion retained.

Diagnosis

Adult: numerous antenodal crossveins, aligned, the primary antenodals not differentiated; wings broad, not petiolate, densely reticulate, commonly pigmented in males, pterostigma often reduced or absent; arc near wing base; discoidal cell traversed by crossveins; median space crossed or free; anal vein separate from base of wings; synthoracic intersegmental suture well developed.

Larva: labium flat, lacking major setae, palps narrow with three sharp distal teeth, median lobe deeply cleft; pedicel of antenna hypertrophied; gills elongate, median gill lamellate, lateral gills triquetral.

General References

Davies, D.A.L. 1981. A synopsis of the extant genera of the Odonata. Societas Internationalis Odonatologica, Rapid Communications 3: i-xiv 1-59

Kirby, W.F. 1890. A Synonymic Catalogue of Neuroptera Odonata, or Dragonflies. With an Appendix of fossil species. London : Gurney & Jackson ix 202 pp.

Latreille, P.A. 1810. Considération Générales sur l'Order Naturel des Animaux Composant les Classes des Crustacés, des Arachnides et des Insectes; avec un Tableau Méthodique de leurs Genres Disposés en Familles. Paris : F. Schoell viii 444 pp. [this work is the subject of Opinions 11 and 136, ICZN, and is on the Official List of Works approved as available for Zoological Nomenclature]

Leach, W.E. 1815. The Zoological Miscellany; being descriptions of new, or interesting animals. Illustrated by R.P. Nodder. London : Nodder & Son Vol. 2 154 pp. pls 61-120.

Montgomery, B.E. 1954. Nomenclatural confusion in the Odonata; the Agrion-Calopteryx problems. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 47: 471-483

Montgomery, B.E. 1962. The classification and nomenclature of calopterygine dragonflies (Odonata: Calopterygoidea). Verhandlungen XI Internationaler Kongress für Entomologie 3: 281-284

Common Name References

Theischinger, G., Hawking, J. & Orr, A. 2021. The Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 2nd edn. (Demoiselles)

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