Odonatoptera

The Odonatoptera are a superorder of ancient winged insects, placed in the probably paraphyletic group Palaeoptera. The dragonflies and damselflies are the only living members of this group, which was far more diverse in the late Paleozoic and contained gigantic species, including the griffinflies of the order Meganisoptera. The oldest members of Odonatoptera are known from the latest part of the Serpukhovian age of the Early Carboniferous, about 325–324 million years ago, making them among the oldest known winged insects.

Systematics and taxonomy

There is little consensus about the relationships of the Odonatoptera. What is certain is that they are a clade of winged insects that stands outside the Neoptera. But various authors' analyses have yielded any one of three mutually exclusive phylogenies, or some variant thereof: The least problematic view is that the Odonatoptera are the sister taxon of the Ephemeropteroidea, and that the Palaeodictyopteroidea are either their sister taxon or a basal assemblage, all within a monophyletic Palaeoptera. But few recent analyses have supported this. Rather, it seems more and more likely that the Odonatoptera are the sister taxon of the Neoptera, making the "Palaeoptera" paraphyletic. The third view places the mayfly lineage as sister taxon of the neopterans, with the Odonatoptera as most primitive winged insects; it has seen little support in recent decades however.
The superorder Odonatoptera includes the following major groups and families which may be considered orders, ordered from the most basal groups downward to those closest to the Odonata crown group:

Order †Eugeroptera
Order †Kukaloptera
Order †Argentinoptera
Order †Geroptera
Family †Enigmapteridae
Order †"Eomeganisoptera"
Order †Meganisoptera – griffinflies or "giant dragonflies"
Family †Campylopteridae
Family †Lapeyriidae
Order †Protanisoptera
Clade †Triadophlebioptera
Order †"Protozygoptera"
Family †Saxonagrionidae
Family †Huangiopteridae
Family †Tarsophlebiidae
Order Odonata - dragonflies and damselflies

In some treatments, the Odonata are expanded to include all the above taxa from Campylopteridae downward; this group is treated as an unranked clade Odonatoclada in the scheme used here. Where the Odonata are defined loosely, the term Odonatoidea is used instead of "Odonatoptera".

Phylogeny

Based on the work of Günter Bechly, Nel et al. and Petrulevičius & Gutierrez.
Cladogram of Odonatoptera including Odonata by Deregnaucourt et al. 2023.