''Austrophya'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

dragonflies 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 threate ...

in the superfamily

Libelluloidea Libelluloidea is a superfamily of dragonflies. A 2013 phylogenetic analysis suggests that this superfamily contains four families: *Corduliidae Selys, 1850 *Libellulidae Leach, 1815 * Macromiidae Needham, 1903 *Synthemistidae Tillyard, 1911 R ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to north-eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Species

This genus includes the following species: * '' Austrophya mystica'' - rainforest mystic * '' Austrophya monteithorum'' - summit mystic From 1909 ''Austrophya'' used to be a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus with only one species, '' Austrophya mystica'', until '' Austrophya monteithorum'' was described in 2019.

Etymology

The genus name ''Austrophya'' is derived from two words: the prefix ''Austro-'', from a Latin word ''Australis'', meaning southern, could be for purely Australian genera; the suffix ''-phya'', derived from a Greek word meaning stature or growth, refers to existing generic names of dragonflies ''Neophya'' and ''Cordulephya'', which are allied to this genus.

Taxonomy

Recent taxonomic research could not assign the genus ''Austrophya'' to any family and it was placed ''

incertae sedis or is a term used for a taxonomy (biology), taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty ...

'' within the superfamily

. Prior to this, ''Austrophya'' had been considered to be part of one of several families: Austrocorduliidae,

Synthemistidae The Synthemistidae are the family of dragonflies commonly known as tigertails, or sometimes called southern emeralds. This family is part of the superfamily Libelluloidea. Synthemistidae is an ancient dragonfly family, with some species occu ...

Corduliidae Corduliidae, also knowns as the emeralds, emerald dragonflies, or green-eyed skimmers, is a family of dragonflies. These dragonflies are usually black or dark brown with areas of metallic green or yellow, and most of them have large, emerald-green ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2369513 Libelluloidea Anisoptera genera Odonata of Australia Endemic fauna of Australia Taxa named by Robert John Tillyard Insects described in 1909 Arthropods of Queensland Dragonflies