A phylogenetic analysis of the extant Aeshnidae (Odonata: Anisoptera)

Abstract A cladistic analysis of the world Aeshnidae is presented, based on fifty-eight characters of adult and larval anatomy. The ingroup taxa include all the extant genera of Aeshnidae, and the austropetaliid genera Phyllopetalia and Hypopetalia were chosen as the outgroup. The strict consensus tree obtained after successive weighting shows that the subgroups defined traditionally for Aeshnidae are paraphyletic or polyphyletic. The previous reclassification derived from analyses based on wing venation is supported in terms of the monophyly of Aeshnidae, Gomphaeschninae and its sister group comprising the remaining Aeshnidae. Gomphaeschninae is confirmed as sister group of the remaining Aeshnidae (= Aeshnodea Bechly). The sister-group relationships between Gomphaeschna + Sarasaeschna and Linaeschna + Oligoaeschna are corroborated. Within Aeshnodea, three monophyletic groups emerged: Boyeria + ( Petaliaeschna + ( Limnetron + Gynacanthaeschna + Periaeschna )) + (( Cephalaeschna + Caliaeschna ) + ( Allopetalia ( Notoaeschna + Spinaeschna ))); Dendroaeschna + ( Epiaeschna + ( Aeschnophlebia + ( Nasiaeschna + ( Tetracanthagyna + Brachytron )))); and Polycanthagyna + ( Basiaeschna + ( Amphiaeschna + ( Indaeschna + ( Oplonaeschna + ( Racenaeschna + Plattycantha + Agyrtacantha + Triacanthagyna + ( Subaeschna + Austrogynacantha + Gynacantha ) + ( Heliaeschna + ( Neuraeschna + Staurophlebia ))) + (( Castoraeschna + Coryphaeschna + Remartinia ) + ( Oreaeschna + ( Aeshna + ( Anaciaeschna + ((' A .' isosceles + Andaeshna ) + ( Anax + Hemianax )))))). Additional informative characters are required to test the relationships suggested here between the main groups of Aeshnodea and some enigmatic basal taxa ( Antipodophlebia , Austroaeschna , Acanthaeschna , Telephlebia , Austrophlebia and Planaeschna ).