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The genus ''Epiophlebia'' is the sole member of the family Epiophlebiidae, which is itself the sole living representative of the 
Epiprocta
Epiprocta is one of the two extant suborders of the Odonata (the order to which dragonflies and damselflies belong). It was proposed relatively recently, having been created to accommodate the inclusion of the Anisozygoptera. The latter has been ...
n infraorder Epiophlebioptera, and it contains only three species. The first two species were historically placed in their own suborder Anisozygoptera, considered intermediate between dragonflies
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 threa ...
and damselflies, mainly because the hind wings are very similar in size and shape to the forewings and held back over the body at rest, as in damselflies. It has more recently been recognized that the genus ''Epiophlebia'' shares a more recent ancestor with dragonflies (having become separated from these in and around the uplifting of the Himalayas), and the group has accordingly been reclassified as an infraorder within the dragonflies. Very recently a third species, '' Epiophlebia sinensis'', has been described from Heilongjiang province in northeast China, bridging ''Epiophlebia'' distribution gap between Nepal and Japan. A fourth species has been claimed from larval material from South China, but this is not universally accepted. ''Epiophlebia'' species are a freshwater indicator of a river ecosystem health
Ecosystem health is a metaphor used to describe the condition of an ecosystem.Rapport, David (1998). "Defining ecosystem health." Pages 18-33 in Rapport, D.J. (ed.) (1998). ''Ecosystem Health.'' Blackwell Scientific. Ecosystem condition can vary ...
. A study that has been conducted on the head anatomy of ''Epiophlebia'' has verified the presence of 41 muscles in the head of the larva. Like in true dragonflies (Anisoptera) the aquatic nymphs breathe through a rectal chamber, but jet propulsion has yet to be documented. ''Epiophlebia'' species are a representative of a dragonfly fauna which originated during the Jurassic period on the rising continent of Eurasia.
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