''Steleopteron deichmuelleri'' is a species of extinct winged damselfly in the family

Steleopteridae Steleopteridae is a family of extinct winged damselflies whose fossils have been found in modern Germany, Great Britain and Kazakhstan, and which lived at the end of the Jurassic and the beginning of the Cretaceous (166.1–130.0 million years ...

, which lived in modern Germany during the Upper

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

era (150.8-145 million years ago). The holotype 1903.V3 1985/4, which is a dissociated exoskeleton, was found in the Lower

Tithonian In the geological timescale, the Tithonian is the latest age of the Late Jurassic Epoch and the uppermost stage of the Upper Jurassic Series. It spans the time between 152.1 ± 4 Ma and 145.0 ± 4 Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the K ...

sediments at Eichstatt,

Solnhofen Solnhofen is a municipality in the district of Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen in the region of Middle Franconia in the ' of Bavaria in Germany. It is in the Altmühl valley. The local area is famous in geology and palaeontology for Solnhofen limest ...

, Bavaria, Germany. The Austrian paleoentomologist

Anton Handlirsch Anton Handlirsch or Anton Peter Josef Handlirsch (20 January 1865, Vienna – 28 August 1935, Vienna) was an Austrian entomologist. He worked on many groups including Hemiptera, Hymenoptera and Neuroptera. His most significant work was in the stu ...

described it in 1906. The body of the holotype reaches 60 mm in length and 3 mm in width, wings – 39 mm in length and 6 mm in width. They were fast insectivorous predators. The species belongs to the extinct insect family

, and the genus

Steleopteron ''Steleopteon'' is a genus of extinct winged damselflies whose fossils have been found in modern Germany, and Great Britain, and which lived at the end of the Jurassic and the beginning of the Cretaceous (150.8 to 130 million years ago). The ...

, and is its type species. A sister taxon is '' Steleopteron cretacicus''.

References

Jurassic insects Damselflies of Europe {{Jurassic-insect-stub