The Perilestidae are a

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 ...

damselflies 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 ...

commonly known as shortwings and twigtails.Haber, W. and Wagner, D
Perilestidae: Shortwings.
Dragonflies and Damselflies of Ecuador. It is a small family of around 19 species.Neiss, U. G. and Neusa, H. (2010)
The larva of ''Perilestes attenuatus'' Selys, 1886 (Odonata: Perilestidae) from Amazonas, Brazil.
''Zootaxa'' 2614 53-58. All extant species are native to the

Neotropical realm The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

. In the past ''Nubiolestes'' of Africa was included in this family, but this is doubted. ''Palaeoperilestes electronicus'' is an extinct species described from mid-Cretaceous

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The ...

. These damselflies are short-winged and have very long, slender, color-banded abdomens. They live in dense forest habitat and rest with their abdomens hanging vertically.Machado, A. (2015)
''Perilestes eustaquioi'' sp. nov. and new distributional records of Perilestidae (Odonata) in Brazil.
''Zoologia (Curitiba)'', 32(5), 428-430.

Genera

The family Perilestidae include the following genera: *''

Perilestes ''Perilestes'' is a genus of damselflies in the family Perilestidae The Perilestidae are a family of damselflies commonly known as shortwings and twigtails.Haber, W. and Wagner, DPerilestidae: Shortwings.Dragonflies and Damselflies of Ecuador. ...

'' *''

Perissolestes ''Perissolestes'' is a genus of damselflies in the family Perilestidae. There are about 12 described species in ''Perissolestes''. Species These 12 species belong to the genus ''Perissolestes'': * ''Perissolestes aculeatus'' Kennedy, 1941 * ''P ...

'' *†'' Palaeoperilestes'' Zheng et al. 2016

References

Odonata families Taxa named by Clarence Hamilton Kennedy Lestoidea {{damselfly-stub