Aeshnoidea is a superfamily of dragonflies comprising the families Aeshnidae and Austropetaliidae.
The superfamily also includes numerous extinct lineages known from Jurassic and Cretaceous fossils.
Taxonomic history The family-group name Aeshnoidea is attributed to Leach, 1815.
Modern classifications recognise two extant families within the superfamily: Aeshnidae and Austropetaliidae.
In 2016, Kohli and colleagues referred to the clade comprising Aeshnidae and Austropetaliidae as Aeshnoidea, while noting that it had been called Aeshnoptera by Bechly and colleagues.
Taxonomic history The superfamily Aeshnoidea was established by Leach in 1815.
Modern classifications recognise two extant families within the superfamily: Aeshnidae and Austropetaliidae.
The fossil clade Aeshnoptera, proposed by Bechly in 1996, broadly corresponds to Aeshnoidea and several extinct stem groups.
Phylogeny Phylogenetic studies support Aeshnoidea as a monophyletic group comprising Aeshnidae and Austropetaliidae.
Within modern dragonflies, Aeshnoidea is generally recovered as the sister group to the remaining extant Anisoptera.
Families The following families are currently placed in Aeshnoidea: Aeshnidae Austropetaliidae
Fossil families The superfamily includes numerous extinct families known from Jurassic and Cretaceous deposits, including:
†Cymatophlebiidae Handlirsch, 1906 †Eumorbaeschnidae Bechly et al., 2001 †Liupanshaniidae Bechly et al., 2001 †Mesuropetalidae Bechly, 1996 †Paracymatophlebiidae Bechly et al., 2001 †Progobiaeshnidae Bechly, Nel, Martínez-Delclòs et al., 2001 †Rudiaeschnidae Bechly et al., 2001
Additional extinct families closely related to modern aeshnoids include: †Burmaeshnidae Huang et al., 2017 †Enigmaeshnidae Nel et al., 2008 †Libanoaeshnidae Azar, Maksoud, Abi-Saad & Nel, 2024 †Primumaeshnidae Pouillon & Nel, 2020
Fossil record The oldest known crown-group dragonflies are the paracymatophlebiid †Sinocymatophlebia and the indeterminate aeshnoid †Propecymatophlebia, known from the Middle Jurassic of China.
Etymology The superfamily name Aeshnoidea is derived from the type genus Aeshna and the zoological suffix -oidea, used for superfamilies.
The origin of the genus name Aeshna is uncertain, but it may derive from the Greek αἰσχύνω (aischynō, "to disfigure" or "to tarnish"), possibly through a transcription error.
See also List of dragonflies of the world
References