One of the most fascinating Bauplan transitions in the animal kingdom was the invention of insect wings, a change that also contributed to the success and enormous diversity of this animal group. However, the origin of insect flight and the relationships of basal winged insect orders are still controversial. Three hypotheses have been proposed to explain the phylogeny of winged insects: 1) the ...

Maputaland-Pondoland-Albany, South Africa has been identified as a biodiversity hotspot and centre for endemism. Odonata make good indicators of freshwater ecosystem health. Consequently we compiled a list of Odonata species recorded to date in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park. We then detailed important species in terms of endemism, conservation status, and potential as indicator species. Finally...

The species of Epiophlebia are unique among the recent Odonata in showing a mixture of morphological characters of dragonflies (Anisoptera) and damselflies (Zygoptera). The status of the four described extant species of Epiophlebia is disputable from a genetic as well as from a morphological point of view. Here we present an analysis of the thoracic musculature of different nymphal instars of E...

Odonata are represented from the Iberian Peninsula by 79 species. However, there exists a significant gap in accessible knowledge about these species,especially regarding their distribution. This data paper describes the specimen-based Odonata data of the Arthropod Collection of the Department of Biología de Organismos y Sistemas (BOS), University of Oviedo, Spain. The specimens were mainly col...

Assessing and categorizing habitat needs or population trends of organisms with complex life histories, such as Odonata, is challenging. All Odonata have aquatic nymphs and terrestrial adults. As a consequence, their use as indicators of ecosystem health or as umbrella species in conservation plans may be misleading if data from a particular life stage does not reflect actual residency at a fre...

The relationships of the 3 major clades of winged insects-Ephemeroptera, Odonata, and Neoptera-are still unclear. Many morphologists favor a clade Metapterygota (Odonata +Neoptera), but Chiastomyaria (Ephemeroptera + Neoptera) or Palaeoptera (Ephemeroptera +Odonata) has also been supported in some older and more recent studies. A possible explanation for the difficulties in resolving these rela...

In 2018 and 2019, quantitative aquatic macroinvertebrate samplings were carried out in the river network of Bükkösdi-víz (Mecsek Mountain). The identification 325,865 specimens originated from 40 sampling sites resulted occurrences 125 different species belonging to 12 higher taxa (Gastropoda – 9, Bivalvia 1, Hirudinea 4, Malacostraca 6, Ephemeroptera 16, Odonata 12, Plecoptera 3, Heteroptera 1...

The last stadium larva of Microgomphus thailandica is described, illustrated and compared with the larvae of congeneric species based on reared specimens collected from the Phachi headwater stream, Ratchaburi province, Thailand. The female adult of this species is described for the first time from a reared specimen from the same locality.