Ypshna brownleei, an image reversed left/right so that wing apices are to the right for ease of comparison. Scale bar is 5 mm. Image credit: S. Archibald & R. Cannings, doi: 10.4039/tce.2019.61.
Sci-News has a post about the discovery of 6 new species of fossil dragonflies. These animals lived about 50 million years ago during the Eocene epoch. The fossils were found in the Okanagan Highlands, whih is an elevated hilly plateau area in British Columbia, Canada and the state of Washington. All the details are in a paper which was published in the journal The Canadian Entomologist.
Dr. Bruce Archibald, a paleontologist at Simon Fraser University, and Royal BC Museum dragonfly expert Robert Cannings examined nine rare dragonfly fossils from the site of McAbee in British Columbia and from the town of Republic in northern Washington.
They found the fossils represent eight previously unknown species, six of which were well-enough preserved to be given scientific names: Antiquiala snyderae, Idemlinea versatilis, Ypshna brownleei, Ypshna latipennata, Eoshna thompsonensis, and Auroradraco eos.
“While some of the fossil insect groups from these beds lived alongside the dinosaurs before eventually becoming extinct, and would be strange to see today, these dragonflies belong to modern families, mostly to a diverse group called the darners,” the researchers explained.
“They would not look out of place today flying beside a modern pond. Other dragonfly groups that are familiar today appear to have begun their diversification to modern dominance shortly after,” Dr. Archibald said.