''Electropodagrion'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

damselfly Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies (which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Epiprocta) but are usually smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the win ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Megapodagrionidae Megapodagrionidae is a family of damselflies. They are commonly called flatwings for their habit of spreading out their wings horizontally when at rest. A 2013 phylogenetic analysis pares down this family into only three genera, and numerous ot ...

known from a fossil found in Europe. The genus contains a single described species, ''Electropodagrion szwedoi''.

History and classification

''Electropodagrion'' is known from a solitary fossil, which is an

inclusion Inclusion or Include may refer to: Sociology * Social inclusion, action taken to support people of different backgrounds sharing life together. ** Inclusion (disability rights), promotion of people with disabilities sharing various aspects of lif ...

in a transparent chunk of

Baltic amber Baltic amber or succinite is amber from the Baltic region, home of its largest known deposits. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that this forested region provided the re ...

. The amber was recovered from fossil bearing rocks in the Baltic Sea region of Europe. Estimates of the age date between 37 million years old, for the youngest sediments and 48 million years old. This age range straddles the middle Eocene, ranging from near the beginning of the Lutetian to the beginning of the Pribonian. At the time of study, the holotype was part of the paleoentomology collections housed by the Museum of Amber Inclusions,

University of Gdańsk The University of Gdańsk () is a public university, public research university located in Gdańsk, Poland. It is one of the top 10 universities in Poland and an important centre for the studies of the Kashubian language. History The Universi ...

, in Gdańsk, Poland. It was first studied by paleoentomologists Dany Azar of the

Lebanese University The Lebanese University (LU; ) is the only state-funded public university in Lebanon. It was established in 1951. The university's main campus was originally located in Beirut, but a few satellite campuses were opened due to travel restriction ...

and André Nel of the

Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

. Their 2008

type description A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

of the genus and species was published in the

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

journal ''Annales de la Société Entomologique de France''. The genus name was coined as a combination of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''elektron'' meaning "amber" and ''podagrion'' the root of '' Megapodagrion'', type genus of Megapodagrionidae. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''szwedoi'' was coined as a

patronym A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, ...

honoring paleoentomologist Jacek Szwedo.

Description

The ''E. szwedoi'' fossil is fragmentary, with only the upper half of one wing, one leg and the thorax with three wing bases preserved. All the wings are similar in structure and appearance, having an approximate length of and a maximum width of about . The nodus, notch on the leading edge of the forewings, is placed from the base, and the

pterostigma The pterostigma (plural: pterostigmata) is a group of specialized cells in the outer wings of insects, which are often thickened or coloured, and thus stand out from other cells. It is particularly noticeable in dragonflies, but present also in ...

is further up the wing. The postnodal veins and the postsubnodal veins are aligned, a feature seen in Coenagrionomorpha damselflies, while the relatively square and shortened pterostigma preclude the genus belonging to Hypolestidae.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q22107929

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species or languages). It is one of the mo ...

Fossil Odonata genera Fossil taxa described in 2008 Eocene insects of Europe

Monotypic prehistoric insect genera