Abstract

Enigmalestes lini gen. et sp. nov. is described and illustrated on the basis of a complete forewing from the Middle–Late Jurassic of China. It corresponds to a new family Enigmalestidae due to a unique combination of characters. We propose to include it in the isophlebiopteran clade Euparazygoptera. This new species shows a highly specialized cubito–anal area, features that are convergently present in Asiopteridae, Triassolestidae, and the enigmatic genus Germanophlebia, the latter of which we exclude from the Euparazygoptera and transfer into the Isophlebiida sit. nov. Enigmalestes is among the youngest representatives of the Euparazygoptera, otherwise known from the Late Triassic to the Early Jurassic. This discovery confirms the high diversity of the Odonata during the Mesozoic.

André Nel [anel@mnhn.fr], Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, CP 50, 57 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France. Diying Huang [dyhuang@nigpas.ac.cn], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing. Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China.