First fossil occurrence of the jewel damselflies (Odonata: Chlorocyphidae): a new species from the Late Miocene of Styria, Austria

Abstract

SummaryThe first fossil representative of the jewel damselflies (Calopterygoidea: Chlorocyphidae), a family of large, prominent, and often brilliantly colored Old World tropical Zygoptera, is described and figured. Chlorocypha cordasevae n. sp. was recovered from the Late Miocene (Early Pannonian, Serravalian to Tortonian, c.11 Ma) locality of Paldau, in the Styrian Basin, Austria. The fossil seems to be related to the African genus Chlorocypha Fraser, and within a larger group of African genera also including Stenocypha Dijkstra, Africocypha Pinhey, and Platycypha Fraser, and collectively set apart from southern Asiatic genera. The discovery of a central European species of Chlorocypha as recently as the Late Miocene reveals a much wider range to the family than its generally disjunctive modern distribution, demonstrating a Neogene contraction to their range, likely in connection with climatic cooling, drying, and developing seasonality. Modern chlorocyphids live under warm, humid climates, and the presence of C. cordasevae in the Pannonian fauna of Paldau further corroborates such a subtropical paleoclimate for the locality at that time.