A New Damselfly Family from the Upper Palaeocene of Argentina

Abstract

A new family of damselflies based on Latibasalia elongata gen. et sp. nov. is erected from the upper Paleocene Maíz Gordo Formation, north-western Argentina. Latibasaliidae fam. nov. could be included into the Zygoptera: Caloptera: Eucaloptera: Amphipterygida: Amphipterygoidea. It phylogenetic relationships within the clade Eucaloptera Bechly, 1996 are discussed. Within Amphipterygoidea, Latibasaliidae could be closely related to Pseudolestidae or to the 'thaumatoneurid' genera Petrolestes and Congqingia because they share the absence of secondary antenodal crossveins of first and second rows and absence of antesubnodal crossveins. These characters could be potential synapomorphies of these taxa but they are somewhat homoplastic within the Zygoptera.