MACROMIIDAE (Lewis, 1969)

Kohli, Manpreet Kaur, Ware, Jessica L. & Bechly, Günter, 2015, How to date a dragonfly: Fossil calibrations for odonates, Palaeontologia Electronica 19, pp. 1-14 : 8

CROWN MACROMIIDAE

Node Calibrated: (8) Crown Macromiidae . This node represents the crown Macromiidae .

Species. Epophthalmia biordinata ( Macromiidae ) Lewis, 1969

Specimen. University of Colorado Boulder. Holotype specimen No. UCM 28198 : hind wing.

Phylogenetic Justification. This is a fossil that is assigned to the genus Epophthalmia , which has been recovered by Ware and Ballare (unpublished data) within the family Macromiidae . Synapomorphies supporting this assigning of the fossil wing include the presence of more antenodal crossveins than Macromia , or Didymops , which are all sister taxa to Epophthalmia . Additionally, the anal loop in this fossil more closely resembles to Epophthalmia than any of the other members of Macromiidae ( Lewis, 1969) . Nel and Paicheler (1994) considered the attribution to the recent genus Epophthalmia as probable.

Minimum Age. 15.5 Ma.

Age Justification. Found in Latah Formation at Marshall Creek, Spokane, Washington, USA. Age estimates for the Latah Formation span the Burdigalian-Langhian-Serravallian (Miocene). Based on an electron microprobe analysis of Fe and Ca content in ash samples, Nash and Perkins (2012) correlated the previously undated Latah Formation to the well-dated lower Bully Creek Formation (also dated by electron microprobe analysis), and thus establish an absolute age of 15.8–15.5 Ma (Langhian).

Discussion. Two other fossil macromiid species, Epophthalmia zotheca Zhang, 1989 and Macromia pilifera Lin, 1982 (attributed to Macromia by Zhang et al., 1994) as well as Macromia sp. larvae ( Zhang, 1989) have been described from the early middle Miocene of Shanwang in the Shandong Province of China.