Cordulephya

Cordulephya is a genus of dragonflies assigned to the superfamily Libelluloidea, and endemic to eastern Australia.^[2] The species are small to tiny in size, coloured black, or purplish-black, with yellowish markings. Unusually for Anisoptera, these dragonflies rest with their wings folded above their body in a similar manner to many species of damselfly.^[3][4] They are commonly known as shutwings.

Cordulephya
Cordulephya pygmaea
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Odonata
Infraorder:	Anisoptera
Superfamily:	Libelluloidea
Genus:	Cordulephya Selys, 1870[1]

Species

The genus Cordulephya includes four species:^[2][5]

Male	Female	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
		Cordulephya bidens Sjöstedt, 1917	tropical shutwing	Queensland, Australia
		Cordulephya divergens Tillyard, 1917	clubbed shutwing	Sydney Basin, Australia
		Cordulephya montana Tillyard, 1911	mountain shutwing	New South Wales, Australia
		Cordulephya pygmaea Selys, 1870	common shutwing	eastern Australia

Taxonomy

Cordulephya was formerly considered a genus within the family Cordulephyidae.^[6] Recent taxonomic revisions have classified the genus Cordulephya as no longer being assigned to a family, but is now placed incertae sedis within the superfamily Libelluloidea.^[7]

References

1. Selys-Longchamps, E. (1870). "Sous-famille des Cordulines, Sélys (1)". Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique (in French). 14: iii-vii [vi] – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
2. "Genus Cordulephya Selys, 1870". Australian Faunal Directory. Australian Biological Resources Study. 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
3. Theischinger, Günther; Hawking, John (2021). The Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia (2nd ed.). Melbourne, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. p. 406. ISBN 9781486313747.
4. Watson, J.A.L.; Theischinger, G.; Abbey, H.M. (1991). The Australian Dragonflies: A Guide to the Identification, Distributions and Habitats of Australian Odonata. Melbourne: CSIRO. p. 278. ISBN 0643051368.
5. Paulson, D.; Schorr, M.; Abbott, J.; Bota-Sierra, C.; Deliry, C.; Dijkstra, K.-D.; Lozano, F. (2024). "World Odonata List". OdonataCentral, University of Alabama.
6. Theischinger, Günther; Hawking, John (2006). The Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia. Collingwood, Victoria, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. p. 366. ISBN 978 0 64309 073 6.
7. Dijkstra, Klaas-Douwe B.; Bechly, Günter; Bybee, Seth M.; Dow, Rory A.; Dumont, Henri J.; Fleck, Günther; Garrison, Rosser W.; Hämäläinen, Matti; Kalkman, Vincent J.; Karube, Haruki; May, Michael L.; Orr, Albert G.; Paulson, Dennis R.; Rehn, Andrew C.; Theischinger, Günther; Trueman, John W.H.; Van Tol, Jan; von Ellenrieder, Natalia; Ware, Jessica (2013). "The classification and diversity of dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata). In: Zhang, Z.-Q. (Ed.) Animal Biodiversity: An Outline of Higher-level Classification and Survey of Taxonomic Richness (Addenda 2013)". Zootaxa. 3703 (1): 36–45. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3703.1.9. hdl:10072/61365. ISSN 1175-5334.