''Electropodagrion'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

damselfly Damselflies are flying insects of the suborder Zygoptera in the order Odonata. They are similar to dragonflies, which constitute the other odonatan suborder, Anisoptera, but are smaller and have slimmer bodies. Most species fold the wings along ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Megapodagrionidae The Megapodagrionidae are a family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-bei ...

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, aims to create an environment that supports equal opportunity for individuals and groups that form a society. ** Inclusion (disability rights), promotion of people with disabiliti ...

in a transparent chunk of

Baltic amber The Baltic region is home to the largest known deposit of amber, called Baltic amber or succinite. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that these forests created more than 1 ...

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

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

Lebanese University The Lebanese University (LU) (, ) is the only public university in Beirut, Lebanon. It is ranked #701–750 worldwide in terms of education. The creation of the Lebanese University was an idea first mentioned in the speech of the former Minist ...

and André Nel of the

Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

. Their 2008

type description A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species that have be ...

of the genus and species was published in the

natural sciences Natural 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 review and repeatab ...

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

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

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

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''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 (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

honoring paleoentomologist

Jacek Szwedo Jacek is a Polish given name of Greek origin related Hyacinth, through the archaic form of ''Jacenty''. Its closely related equivalents are: Jacinto (Spanish and Portuguese), Giacinto (Italian), Jácint ( Hungarian) and Jacint (Catalan, shortened ...

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 insect wing, wings of insects, which are often thickened or coloured, and thus stand out from other cells. It is particularly noticeable in dragonfly, dragonfli ...

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