A New Damselfly Family from the Upper Palaeocene of Argentina

A new family of damselflies, based on Latibasalia elongata gen. et sp. nov. and L. quispeae gen. et sp. nov., is erected from the Upper Palaeocene Maíz Gordo Formation, north-western Argentina. Latibasaliidae fam. nov. can be included in the Zygoptera: Caloptera: Eucaloptera: Amphipterygida: Amphipterygoidea. Its phylogenetic relationships within the clade Eucaloptera Bechly, 1996 are discussed. Within Amphipterygoidea, Latibasaliidae could be closely related to Pseudolestidae or to the 'thaumatoneurid' genera Petrolestes and Congqingia because they share the absence of secondary antenodal crossveins of first and second rows and the absence of antesubnodal crossveins. These characters could be potential synapomorphies of these taxa but they are somewhat homoplastic within the Zygoptera.