NEW EVIDENCE FROM THE ENIGMATIC DAMSELFLY FAMILY LATIBASALIIDAE (ODONATA: ZYGOPTERA: CALOPTERA) FROM THE LATE PALAEOCENE OF NORTHWEST ARGENTINA

PETRULEVICIUS J. F.

Congreso; 3rd Palaeontological Virtual Congress; 2021

Latibasaliidae is a rare and small group of damselflies from thelate Palaeocene of Jujuy province in Northwest Argentina. Thefamily has two species (Latibasalia quispeae Petrulevičius andNel, 2004 and L. elongata Petrulevičius and Nel, 2004) with threespecimens from Maíz Gordo Formation. In this contribution newstructures are described from 10 fragmentary specimens and acomplete fore(?) wing confirming the singularity of the family:a pterostigma with a honeycomb microsculpture, covering 8cells with a slightly oblique basal side and a strongly obliquedistal side followed by two rows of cells distally. Latibasalidsare uncontroversially Caloptera but their position within thegroup remains doubtful. They were considered by Petrulevičiusand Nel (2004, 2007) as Eucaloptera: Amphipterygida:Amphipterygoidea possibly related to Pseudolestidae. Thisattribution was made, among other characters, by the absenceof secondary antenodal and antesubnodal crossveins. Huang etal. (2017) consider Latibasaliidae within the Epallagoidea, andas sister group of Zacallitidae (Eocene of USA), interpreting thesharing of a ?convex longitudinal intercalary vein in the cubitalfield? as unique putative synapomorphy. I could agree in theEpallagoidea attribution because of the expanded cubitalfield, but I interpret the real nature of the strongest accessoryintercalary ?anal? vein in the cubital field as concave, showingpossible relationships with the other family of the group, theEpallagidae. Anyway, latibasalids have two prominent (concaveand convex) ?anal? veins in a particular arrangement, of whichwe have to analyse the possible homologies to establish theirphylogenetic relationships within the Caloptera.