Family PETALURIDAE

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Introduction

The Petaluridae is a small and apparently relict family. It contains five genera and nine species (Winstanley 1982), including five species of the endemic Australian genus Petalura. Petalura ingentissima is one of the world's largest dragonflies. No undescribed species are known. Hawking & Theischinger (1999) describe and figure the larva of Petalura gigantea from New South Wales.

Diagnosis

Adult: eyes widely separated; primary antenodals strongly differentiated, secondary antenodals not necessarily coinciding; pterostigma greatly elongate; median space free; triangular spaces moderately dissimilar in fore and hind wing, triangle of fore wing somewhat elongate across wing axis; anal loop rudimentary, ill-defined; base of male hindwing strongly angulated, auricles correspondingly present; female with complete, endophytic ovipositor.

Larva: labium flat, lacking setae, median lobe cleft, palps broadened, partly covering face; antennae 7-segmented; generally burrowers (Winstanley, 1982).

General References

Hawking, J. & Theischinger, G. 1999. Dragonfly larvae (Odonata). A guide to the identification of larvae of Australian families and to the identification and ecology of larvae from New South Wales. Albury : Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology Vol. 24 iv 218 pp.

Tolman, E.R., Beatty, C.D., Kohli, M.K., Abbott, J., Bybee, S.M., Frandsen, P.B., Gosnell, J.S., Guralnick, R., Kalkman, V.J., Newton, L.G., Suvorov, A. & Ware, J.L. 2024. A molecular phylogeny of the Petaluridae (Odonata: Anisoptera): A 160-Million-Year-Old story of drift and extinction. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 200(108185)

Winstanley, W.J. 1982. Observations on the Petaluridae (Odonata). Advances in Odonatology 1: 303-308

Common Name References

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

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