''Phenes raptor'' is a species of

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...

from

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and other parts of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

Larvae A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

specimen have been collected along the

Malleco River Malleco River is a river in Malleco Province, La Araucanía Region, central Chile. It rises in the western slopes of the Andes, within the Tolhuaca National Park and near Tolhuaca Volcano. After passing by Tolhuaca, it drops into a 50 meter wat ...

and additionally from a farm mill, whereas an adult specimen has been collected from additional sites in Chile. ''Phenes raptor'' is a predator, and it is the physically largest dragonfly in Chile. ''Phenes raptor'' is the only member of its

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Body

The body of ''Phenes raptor'' is part of a group of Odonata with similar features, nicknamed the ''Odonata of Chile''. These measure approximately 35–52 mm for its hindwings. They tend to have thin yet stubby bodies, tinted lightly yellow. Their faces are black, with a thin crossbar above its mouth, while its eyes are set widely apart, and the eyes are eventually joined by a point or dot near the center of its face. The male ''Phenes raptor'' has small anal

appendages An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body. In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...

(more commonly known as tails), with three to four 4- celled triangles, which includes a small notch towards the tip of the appendage. Veins connect the

anus The anus (Latin, 'ring' or 'circle') is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, the residual semi-solid waste that remains after food digestion, which, d ...

and the hindwings. The females do not have any veins connecting their stigma to another area of their

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

. Their wings are not symmetrically formed and often have a forewing triangle which is divided into two to three cells and a few dots bordering the edge of the wing. The specimen's

frons Insect morphology is the study and description of the physical form of insects. The terminology used to describe insects is similar to that used for other arthropods due to their shared evolutionary history. Three physical features separate insec ...

is well developed and has a

longitudinal Longitudinal is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Longitude ** Line of longitude, also called a meridian * Longitudinal engine, an internal combustion engine in which the crankshaft is oriented along the long axis of the vehicl ...

groove which slightly parted the frons. The abdomen has patterns on it, described as "leaf-like". Some specimens have small, red claws which are mainly retracted. The red

thorax The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the cre ...

has two yellow stripes and is covered in small, white hairs.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2042361 Petaluridae Odonata of South America Invertebrates of Chile Near threatened biota of South America Taxa named by Jules Pierre Rambur