Odonata

Odonata is an order of predatory flying insects that includes the dragonflies and damselflies. The two major groups are distinguished with dragonflies (Anisoptera) usually being bulkier with large compound eyes together and wings spread up or out at rest, while damselflies are usually more slender with eyes placed apart and wings folded together along body at rest. Adult odonates can land and perch, but rarely walk.

Odonata

Paul Balfe · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
dragonflyPBDB
Sits inside
PanodonataPBDB
Diet
carnivore, insectivorePBDB
Life habit
volantPBDB
Motility
fast-movingPBDB
Vision
well-developedPBDB
Environment
freshwater,terrestrialPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 309 million years on record.

The record covers at least 309.8 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 314.6 Mya to 0 Mya.

Carboniferous — about 1 of 1679 occurrencesPermian — about 0 of 1679 occurrencesEarly Triassic — about 0 of 1679 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 2 of 1679 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 29 of 1679 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 189 of 1679 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 37 of 1679 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 302 of 1679 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 357 of 1679 occurrencesEarly CretaceousLate Cretaceous — about 71 of 1679 occurrencesLate CretaceousPaleocene — about 39 of 1679 occurrencesEocene — about 272 of 1679 occurrencesOligocene — about 126 of 1679 occurrencesMiocene — about 226 of 1679 occurrencesPliocene — about 12 of 1679 occurrencesPleistocene — about 15 of 1679 occurrences321–310 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences310–299 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences246–235 Mya — about 3 occurrences235–225 Mya — about 7 occurrences225–214 Mya — about 3 occurrences214–203 Mya — about 11 occurrences203–193 Mya — about 34 occurrences193–182 Mya — about 122 occurrences182–171 Mya — about 46 occurrences171–160 Mya — about 34 occurrences160–150 Mya — about 68 occurrences150–139 Mya — about 246 occurrences139–128 Mya — about 34 occurrences128–118 Mya — about 183 occurrences118–107 Mya — about 119 occurrences107–96 Mya — about 44 occurrences96–86 Mya — about 26 occurrences86–75 Mya — about 2 occurrences75–64 Mya — about 4 occurrences64–53 Mya — about 78 occurrences53–43 Mya — about 116 occurrences43–32 Mya — about 130 occurrences32–21 Mya — about 130 occurrences21–11 Mya — about 125 occurrences11–0 Mya — about 112 occurrences309.8 Mya11.7 ka321 Mya0 Mya

1,679 occurrences of Odonata on record, most of them in the Early Cretaceous. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

1,679 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

183 formations

Solnhofen — 48.91°N, 11.14°ESolnhofen — 48.90°N, 11.18°ESolnhofen — 48.90°N, 10.96°ESolnhofen — 48.91°N, 11.54°ECrato — 7.13°S, 39.70°WCrato — 7.22°S, 39.27°WYixian — 41.62°N, 120.83°EYixian — 41.83°N, 121.13°EYixian — 41.54°N, 118.92°EYixian — 41.70°N, 120.50°EYixian — 41.19°N, 119.21°EYixian — 41.80°N, 116.52°EYixian — 42.04°N, 116.63°EYixian — 41.53°N, 121.10°EYixian — 41.75°N, 120.80°EYixian — 42.74°N, 125.37°EYixian — 41.95°N, 118.89°EPosidonia Shale — 52.27°N, 10.68°EPosidonia Shale — 52.31°N, 10.62°EPosidonia Shale — 52.36°N, 10.59°EPosidonia Shale — 52.35°N, 10.74°EPosidonia Shale — 48.63°N, 9.51°EKarabastau — 42.90°N, 70.00°EKarabastau — 42.69°N, 70.41°EWeald Clay — 51.10°N, 0.45°WWeald Clay — 51.13°N, 0.35°WWeald Clay — 52.72°N, 1.44°WWeald Clay — 51.17°N, 0.30°WGreen River — 39.64°N, 108.76°WGreen River — 39.53°N, 107.95°WGreen River — 39.46°N, 108.41°WGreen River — 41.55°N, 109.51°WGreen River — 41.56°N, 109.55°WGreen River — 39.72°N, 108.72°WGreen River — 39.63°N, 108.15°WGreen River — 41.80°N, 110.74°WGreen River — 39.98°N, 109.13°WBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WGessoso-solfifera — 43.90°N, 12.92°EDaohugou — 41.32°N, 119.24°EDaohugou — 41.38°N, 119.25°EFlorissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WKlondike Mountain — 48.66°N, 118.75°WUpper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°ENiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EFur — 56.90°N, 8.75°EFur — 56.92°N, 8.92°EFur — 56.95°N, 8.88°EFur — 56.86°N, 8.62°EFur — 56.89°N, 8.73°EFur — 56.83°N, 9.00°ESagul — 39.98°N, 70.43°ESagul — 39.96°N, 70.68°ECheremkhovskaya — 54.17°N, 100.31°EGlushkovo — 51.92°N, 117.62°EGlushkovo — 53.74°N, 102.56°EGlushkovo — 51.71°N, 116.93°EGlushkovo — 51.65°N, 117.41°EGlushkovo — 52.00°N, 116.00°EShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°ECampagne-Calavon — 43.85°N, 5.58°EDurlston — 50.60°N, 1.95°WRott — 50.75°N, 7.26°ERott — 50.75°N, 7.26°ELa Huérguina — 40.06°N, 1.88°WLa Huérguina — 40.13°N, 2.01°WLulworth — 50.60°N, 1.95°WLulworth — 51.08°N, 1.98°WLulworth — 51.45°N, 0.96°WLulworth — 50.53°N, 2.44°W

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The named rock units Odonata has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 159 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 393 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Odonata and its relatives

Early Cretaceous

Where Odonata and its relatives were recorded in the Early Cretaceous.

Found in the same rock

6,070 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 713 sites for Odonata, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

555 references

Each of the 1,679 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 543 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Odonata

Credit
Paul Balfe
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan was found. Smithsonian Open Access, MorphoSource and Sketchfab were all searched.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itPanodonata through timeFormations of the Early CretaceousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Fabricius 1793