Odonatoptera Lameere, 1900

Wang, Ye-hao, Nel, André, Fu, Yan-zhe, Su, Yi-tong, Cai, Chen-yang, Liu, Yu-ming, Gao, Jian & Huang, Di-ying, 2022, New insect fossils discovered from the Lower Jurassic Sangonghe Formation at the Turpan Basin, Xinjiang, NW China, Palaeoentomology 5 (2), pp. 183-194 : 186

Superorder Odonatoptera Lameere, 1900

Family uncertain

( Fig. 3A )

Material. NIGP 180148, fragment of the costal area of a wing.

Remarks. The absence of a kink in ScP and of a distinct nodal furrow strongly suggest that this wing fragment does not belong to Panodonata (sensu Bechly, 1996). Its nodus fits better with that of a ‘Protozygoptera’ of the superfamily Permagrionoidea Tillyard, 1928 . These also have aligned nodal crossing and subnodus, numerous postnodal and postsubnodal crossveins, and the base of RP2 distad subnodus, as in this fossil ( Nel et al., 2012). But the Permagrionoidea are strictly Permian to date, the presence of a representative of this group in the early Jurassic would be quite surprising. This wing could also correspond to a case of reversal in the nodal structures, somewhat similar to the situation in the Mesozoic anisopteran Aeschnidiidae or the Cenozoic zygopteran Sieblosiidae that have ScP crossing through the nodus ( Fleck & Nel, 2003).

Figures

FIGURE 3. Insect wing fragments from the Sangonghe Formation at Daheyan locality. A, Wing fragment of Odonatoptera, possibly a Protozygoptera of Permagrionidae type, NIGP180148. B, Probably a fragment of auchenorrhynchan hind wing, NIGP180149. C and D, A cockroach forewing without claval part, NIGP180150a, b. Scale = 5 mm in A, 2 mm in B–D.