Out of Australia: the Argiolestidae reveal the Melanesian Arc System and East Papua Composite Terrane as possible ancient dispersal routes to the Indo-Australian Archipelago (Odonata: Argiolestidae)

Information on the origin of distribution patterns shown by freshwater invertebrates in the Indo-Australian Archipelago is poor. Here we present a molecular based hypothesis of the phylogenetic relationships of Argiolestidae, a family of damselflies found throughout the tropical parts of the Eastern Hemisphere. We use this to address the following questions: (1) did Argiolestidae colonize…

Two new species of Pyrrhargiolestes, with a key to the males (Odonata: Argiolestidae)

Two new species belonging to the endemic New Guinea genus Pyrrhargiolestes are described from Papua New Guinea: P. lamington sp. nov. (holotype: Mount Lamington, Oro Province, dep. in RMNH) and P. yela sp. nov. (holotype: Rossel Island, Milne Bay Province, dep. in USNM). The presumed male of P. aulicus is described for the first time….

Generic revision of Argiolestidae (Odonata), with four new genera

The subfamily Argiolestinae is raised to family level to include all zygopteran genera in which the gills of the larvae are flat and held in a horizontal plane. A diagnosis of the family is given and characters for both adults and larvae are presented. The family is divided into two subfamilies based on characters in…