The first damselfly (Odonata, Lestidae) from the upper Eocene of Monteils (Gard, France)

Abstract

The discovery of the first damselfly Lestes regina Théobald, 1937 from Monteils (Gard, France) supports the identity of late Eocene age of this outcrop with the historical outcrop of Célas, type locality for the type series of this species. Lestes regina is also documented from the late Eocene Isle of Wight basin, confirming the presence of significant contacts between this southern area and the anglo-Parisian lacustrine basin at that time. Nearly all the Eocene and Oligocene fossil Lestes from Western Europe have a particular character, viz. the presence of a supplementary row of cells between the veins MP and CuA. This character is much less frequent in extant Lestes and is still unknown among Neogene representatives of the genus.

The oldest-known Lestidae (Odonata) from the late Eocene of Tibet: palaeoclimatic implications

“…nov. has a wing venation very close to that of the latest Eocene Lestes regina Théobald, 1937 (Gard, France), even in the wings' sizes (20-22 mm long in L. regina and 22 mm in C. tibetensis sp. nov.), but the latter has 11-12 postnodals, four cells between subnodus and base of RP2 and 5-6 cells in the supplementary row between MP and CuA in all wings (Théobald, 1937;Jattiot et al 2020). Nel & Fleck (2014) described a latest Eocene fossil as Lestes aff.…”