Odonatoptera Temporal range:
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Reconstruction of Carboniferous griffinfly, Meganeurites. | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Division: | Palaeoptera |
Superorder: | Odonatoptera Martynov, 1932 |
Orders | |
See text | |
Synonyms | |
Campylopterodea Rohdendorf, 1962 |
The Odonatoptera are a superorder (sometimes treated as an order) 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 (colloquially called "giant dragonflies", although they were not dragonflies in the strict sense) of the order Meganisoptera (formerly Protodonata). This lineage dates back at least to the Bashkirian, not quite 320 million years ago. [1]