Odonatoptera

The Odonatoptera are a superorder of ancient winged insects, placed in the probably paraphyletic group Palaeoptera. The dragonflies and damselflies are the only living members of this group, which was far more diverse in the late Paleozoic and contained gigantic species, including the griffinflies of the order Meganisoptera. The oldest members of Odonatoptera are known from the latest part of the Serpukhovian age of the Early Carboniferous, about 325–324 million years ago, making them among the oldest known winged insects.

Odonatoptera

André Nel, Jakub Prokop, Martina Pecharová, Michael S. Engel & Romain Garrouste · CC BY 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
Sits inside
EuhydropalaeopteraPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Arthropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Insecta

Time the record covers

At least 323 million years on record.

The record covers at least 323.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 326.9 Mya to 0 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 69 of 2059 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 155 of 2059 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 2 of 2059 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 61 of 2059 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 54 of 2059 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 210 of 2059 occurrencesMiddle Jurassic — about 37 of 2059 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 340 of 2059 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 368 of 2059 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 72 of 2059 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 39 of 2059 occurrencesEocene — about 272 of 2059 occurrencesOligocene — about 126 of 2059 occurrencesMiocene — about 226 of 2059 occurrencesPliocene — about 12 of 2059 occurrencesPleistocene — about 15 of 2059 occurrences333–322 Mya — about 5 occurrences322–311 Mya — about 27 occurrences311–300 Mya — about 34 occurrences300–289 Mya — about 18 occurrences289–278 Mya — about 74 occurrences278–267 Mya — about 46 occurrences267–256 Mya — about 14 occurrences256–245 Mya — about 13 occurrences245–233 Mya — about 64 occurrences233–222 Mya — about 15 occurrences222–211 Mya — about 6 occurrences211–200 Mya — about 34 occurrences200–189 Mya — about 22 occurrences189–178 Mya — about 160 occurrences178–167 Mya — about 34 occurrences167–156 Mya — about 51 occurrences156–144 Mya — about 302 occurrences144–133 Mya — about 49 occurrences133–122 Mya — about 119 occurrences122–111 Mya — about 201 occurrences111–100 Mya — about 13 occurrences100–89 Mya — about 62 occurrences89–78 Mya — about 2 occurrences78–67 Mya — about 4 occurrences67–56 Mya — about 46 occurrences56–44 Mya — about 143 occurrences44–33 Mya — about 127 occurrences33–22 Mya — about 130 occurrences22–11 Mya — about 132 occurrences11–0 Mya — about 113 occurrences323.6 Mya11.7 ka333 Mya0 Mya

2,059 occurrences of Odonatoptera 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

2,059 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

241 formations

Solnhofen — 48.91°N, 11.14°ESolnhofen — 48.90°N, 11.18°ESolnhofen — 48.90°N, 10.96°ESolnhofen — 48.91°N, 11.54°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 — 41.19°N, 119.21°EYixian — 41.80°N, 116.52°EYixian — 42.04°N, 116.63°EYixian — 41.53°N, 121.10°EYixian — 41.75°N, 120.80°EYixian — 42.74°N, 125.37°EYixian — 41.95°N, 118.89°EWellington — 38.64°N, 97.21°WWellington — 36.33°N, 97.28°WWellington — 36.51°N, 97.32°WWellington — 36.90°N, 97.38°WMadygen — 40.05°N, 70.21°EMadygen — 40.03°N, 70.25°EKarabastau — 42.90°N, 70.00°EKarabastau — 42.69°N, 70.41°EKarabastau — 42.95°N, 69.92°EPosidonia Shale — 52.27°N, 10.68°EPosidonia Shale — 52.31°N, 10.62°EPosidonia Shale — 52.36°N, 10.59°EPosidonia Shale — 52.35°N, 10.74°EPosidonia Shale — 48.63°N, 9.51°EWeald Clay — 51.10°N, 0.45°WWeald Clay — 51.13°N, 0.35°WWeald Clay — 52.72°N, 1.44°WWeald Clay — 51.17°N, 0.30°WGreen River — 39.64°N, 108.76°WGreen River — 39.53°N, 107.95°WGreen River — 39.46°N, 108.41°WGreen River — 41.55°N, 109.51°WGreen River — 41.56°N, 109.55°WGreen River — 39.72°N, 108.72°WGreen River — 39.63°N, 108.15°WGreen River — 41.80°N, 110.74°WGreen River — 39.98°N, 109.13°WBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WGessoso-solfifera — 43.90°N, 12.92°EDaohugou — 41.32°N, 119.24°EDaohugou — 41.38°N, 119.25°EFlorissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WKlondike Mountain — 48.66°N, 118.75°WUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°ENiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EFur — 56.90°N, 8.75°EFur — 56.92°N, 8.92°EFur — 56.95°N, 8.88°EFur — 56.86°N, 8.62°EFur — 56.89°N, 8.73°EFur — 56.83°N, 9.00°ESalagou — 43.64°N, 3.26°ESalagou — 43.63°N, 3.20°ESagul — 39.98°N, 70.43°ESagul — 39.96°N, 70.68°ECheremkhovskaya — 54.17°N, 100.31°EIva-Gora Beds — 65.55°N, 43.67°EIva-Gora Beds — 65.59°N, 42.57°EGlushkovo — 51.92°N, 117.62°EGlushkovo — 53.74°N, 102.56°EGlushkovo — 51.71°N, 116.93°EGlushkovo — 51.65°N, 117.41°EGlushkovo — 52.00°N, 116.00°EDurlston — 50.60°N, 1.95°WShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°E

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The named rock units Odonatoptera has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 217 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 431 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Odonatoptera and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

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

Found in the same rock

6,358 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 854 sites for Odonatoptera, 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

684 references

Each of the 2,059 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. 672 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 Odonatoptera

Credit
André Nel, Jakub Prokop, Martina Pecharová, Michael S. Engel & Romain Garrouste
Licence
CC BY 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Odonatoptera 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 itEuhydropalaeoptera through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Martynov 1932)