Protolestidae is a family of damselflies endemic to eastern Madagascar.[2] The family contains a single genus, Protolestes, whose species inhabit forest streams.[2]
Members of the family inhabit rainforest streams and are notable for their broad heads and for the larvae, their unusual fan-shaped gills. Adults perch with their wings either closed or partly open, unlike many related flatwing damselflies that habitually hold their wings fully outspread.[2]
The family was established in 2021 following phylogenomic studies that showed Protolestes to represent a distinct evolutionary lineage among damselflies formerly placed in Megapodagrionidae.[2][3]
Description
Protolestids are medium-sized to fairly large damselflies endemic to eastern Madagascar.[2] Adults are typically coloured red, black and yellow, often with contrasting markings, but unlike many tropical damselflies they lack metallic colouration and pruinosity.[2]
The head is notably broad, recalling some members of the unrelated family Platycnemididae.[2] Adults perch with the wings either closed or partly open and hold the abdomen roughly horizontal.[2] The larvae possess distinctive fan-shaped caudal gills, a feature otherwise uncommon among damselflies.[2]
Taxonomic history
Protolestes was described by Friedrich Förster in 1899 from specimens collected on Montagne d’Ambre in northern Madagascar. Förster regarded the genus as closely related to Argiolestes, but distinguished it by differences in wing venation and female morphology.[1]
For much of the twentieth century the genus was placed within Megapodagrionidae.[4] Molecular studies later showed that the broad concept of Megapodagrionidae contained several unrelated lineages.[3] Dijkstra and Bybee established the monogeneric family Protolestidae in 2021 to accommodate Protolestes.[2]
Species
The following species are currently placed in Protolestes:[5]
- Protolestes fickei Förster, 1899
- Protolestes furcatus Aguesse, 1967
- Protolestes kerckhoffae Schmidt, 1949
- Protolestes leonorae Schmidt, 1949
- Protolestes milloti Fraser, 1949
- Protolestes proselytus Lieftinck, 1965
- Protolestes rufescens Aguesse, 1967
- Protolestes simonei Aguesse, 1967
Etymology
The family name Protolestidae is derived from the type genus Protolestes, with the standard zoological suffix -idae used for animal families.
The genus name Protolestes is derived from the Greek πρῶτος (prōtos, “first” or “primitive”) and Lestes, a genus of damselflies. Förster did not explain the derivation, but the name probably reflects his view that the genus represented an early or distinctive member of the broad assemblage of damselflies then associated with Lestes and related groups.[1][6]
References
- ^ a b c Foerster, F. (1899). “Zur Odonaten-Fauna von Madagascar. No. I”. Entomologische Nachrichten (in German). 25 (12): 186–191 [187].
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bybee, S. M.; Kalkman, V. J.; Erickson, R. J.; Frandsen, P. B.; Breinholt, J. W.; Suvorov, A.; Ware, J. L. (2021). “Phylogeny and classification of Odonata using targeted genomics”. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 160: 1–15. Bibcode:2021MolPE.16007115B. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107115. hdl:11093/2768. PMID 33609713.
- ^ a b Dijkstra, Klaas-Douwe B.; Kalkman, Vincent J.; Dow, Rory A.; Stokvis, Frank R.; Van Tol, Jan (2014). “Redefining the damselfly families: A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Zygoptera (Odonata)”. Systematic Entomology. 39 (1): 68–96. doi:10.1111/syen.12035.
- ^ Bridges, Charles A. (1994). Catalogue of the family-group, genus-group and species-group names of the Odonata of the world (3rd ed.). Urbana, Illinois: Charles A. Bridges. p. II.1. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.15291.
- ^ Paulson, D.; Schorr, M.; Abbott, J.; Bota-Sierra, C.; Deliry, C.; Dijkstra, K.-D.; Lozano, F. “World Odonata List”. OdonataCentral. University of Alabama. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
- ^ Brown, Roland Wilbur (1954). Composition of Scientific Words: A Manual of Methods and a Lexicon of Materials for the Practice of Logotechnics. [Washington].