Anisoptera

A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threatens dragonfly populations around the world. Adult dragonflies are characterised by a pair of large, multifaceted, compound eyes, two pairs of strong, transparent wings, sometimes with coloured patches, and an elongated body. Many dragonflies have brilliant iridescent or metallic colours produced by structural coloration, making them conspicuous in flight. An adult dragonfly's compound eyes have nearly 24,000 ommatidia each.

Anisoptera

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
true dragonflyPBDB
Sits inside
NeoanisopteraPBDB
Diet
carnivore, insectivorePBDB, for Odonata
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Odonata
Motility
fast-movingPBDB, for Odonata
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Odonata
Environment
freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Odonata

Time the record covers

At least 182 million years on record.

The record covers at least 182.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 184.2 Mya to 0 Mya.

Early Jurassic — about 1 of 675 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 5 of 675 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 120 of 675 occurrencesLate JurassicEarly Cretaceous — about 198 of 675 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 25 of 675 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 20 of 675 occurrencesEocene — about 73 of 675 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 60 of 675 occurrencesMiocene — about 157 of 675 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 9 of 675 occurrencesPleistocene — about 7 of 675 occurrences188–182 Mya — about 1 occurrence169–163 Mya — about 4 occurrences163–157 Mya — about 5 occurrences157–150 Mya — about 14 occurrences150–144 Mya — about 102 occurrences144–138 Mya — about 13 occurrences138–132 Mya — about 4 occurrences132–125 Mya — about 14 occurrences125–119 Mya — about 71 occurrences119–113 Mya — about 94 occurrences113–106 Mya — about 2 occurrences106–100 Mya — about 3 occurrences100–94 Mya — about 20 occurrences94–88 Mya — about 2 occurrences88–81 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences81–75 Mya — about 1 occurrence75–69 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences63–56 Mya — about 19 occurrences56–50 Mya — about 18 occurrences50–44 Mya — about 15 occurrences44–38 Mya — about 6 occurrences38–31 Mya — about 42 occurrences31–25 Mya — about 33 occurrences25–19 Mya — about 48 occurrences19–13 Mya — about 51 occurrences13–6.3 Mya — about 54 occurrences6.3–0 Mya — about 40 occurrences182.9 Mya11.7 ka188 Mya0 Mya

675 occurrences of Anisoptera on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

675 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

95 formations

Solnhofen — 48.91°N, 11.14°ESolnhofen — 48.90°N, 11.18°ESolnhofen — 48.91°N, 11.54°ESolnhofen — 48.88°N, 11.00°ECrato — 7.13°S, 39.70°WCrato — 7.22°S, 39.27°WYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°EYixian — 41.83°N, 121.13°EYixian — 41.54°N, 118.92°EYixian — 41.70°N, 120.50°EYixian — 41.75°N, 120.80°EYixian — 42.74°N, 125.37°EGessoso-solfifera — 43.90°N, 12.92°EBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°EWeald Clay — 51.10°N, 0.45°WWeald Clay — 51.13°N, 0.35°WNiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EKarabastau — 42.90°N, 70.00°EPaskapoo — 52.35°N, 113.76°WPaskapoo — 52.33°N, 113.74°WPaskapoo — 52.27°N, 113.59°WPaskapoo — 52.35°N, 113.76°WFlorissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WRott — 50.75°N, 7.26°ERott — 50.75°N, 7.26°EDaohugou — 41.32°N, 119.24°EGreen River — 41.55°N, 109.51°WGreen River — 41.56°N, 109.55°WGreen River — 39.46°N, 108.41°WGreen River — 39.55°N, 107.90°WGreen River — 39.64°N, 108.76°WGreen River — 39.98°N, 109.13°WBembridge Marls — 50.74°N, 1.36°WBembridge Marls — 50.75°N, 1.34°WBembridge Marls — 50.74°N, 1.35°WZaza — 53.30°N, 112.09°ELa Pedrera de Rúbies — 42.02°N, 0.89°EMaíz Gordo — 24.33°S, 64.47°WMaíz Gordo — 24.35°S, 64.98°WMaíz Gordo — 24.27°S, 64.42°WLatah — 46.53°N, 116.79°WLatah — 47.61°N, 117.43°WLatah — 46.74°N, 116.27°WLatah — 47.65°N, 117.44°WCypris — 50.16°N, 12.69°ECypris — 50.13°N, 12.52°ECypris — 50.17°N, 12.64°EMost — 50.57°N, 13.73°EMost — 50.05°N, 13.77°EMost — 50.42°N, 13.36°ELulworth — 51.08°N, 1.98°WLulworth — 50.60°N, 1.95°WBarstow — 34.95°N, 116.83°WBarstow — 34.94°N, 116.83°W

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The named rock units Anisoptera has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 71 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 136 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Anisoptera and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Anisoptera and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

6,198 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 335 sites for Anisoptera, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

276 references

Each of the 675 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 264 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Anisoptera

Credit
Charles J. Sharp
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Anisoptera was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itNeoanisoptera through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Selys-Longchamps and Hagen 1854)