Cordulephya Explained

Cordulephya is a genus of dragonflies assigned to the superfamily Libelluloidea, and endemic to eastern Australia.^[1] 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.^{[2] [3]} They are commonly known as shutwings.

Species

The genus Cordulephya includes four species:

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

Taxonomy

Cordulephya was formerly considered a genus within the family Cordulephyidae.^[4] 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.^[5]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Genus Cordulephya Selys, 1870. 2022. Australian Faunal Directory. Australian Biological Resources Study. 1 September 2024.
2. Book: The Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia. Theischinger. Günther. Hawking. John. CSIRO Publishing. 2021. 9781486313747. Melbourne, Australia. 406 . 2nd.
3. Book: The Australian Dragonflies: A Guide to the Identification, Distributions and Habitats of Australian Odonata. Watson. J.A.L.. Theischinger. G.. Abbey. H.M.. CSIRO. 1991. 0643051368. Melbourne. 278.
4. Book: Theischinger, Günther. The Complete Field Guide to Dragonflies of Australia. Hawking. John. CSIRO Publishing. 2006. 978 0 64309 073 6. Collingwood, Victoria, Australia. 366.
5. 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 . en . 3703 . 1 . 36–45 . 10.11646/zootaxa.3703.1.9 . free . 10072/61365 . free . 1175-5334 .