Editing Odonata (section)

=== Fossil history ===

[[File:Meganeura monyi au Museum de Toulouse.jpg|thumb|The giant [[Upper Carboniferous]] dragonfly ancestor, ''[[Meganeura]] monyi'', had a wingspan of about {{convert|680|mm|in|abbr=on}},<ref>{{cite book |title=The Biology of Dragonflies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J584AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA324 |publisher=Cambridge University Press Archive |date=2018 |page=324 |id=GGKEY:0Z7A1R071DD |quote=No Dragonfly at present existing can compare with the immense ''[[Meganeura monyi]]'' of the [[Upper Carboniferous]], whose expanse of wing was somewhere about twenty-seven inches.}}</ref>]]

Members of the [[crown group]] Odonata first appeared during the [[Late Triassic]],<ref name=palaeo-electronica>{{cite journal |last1=Kohli |first1=Manpreet Kaur |last2=Ware |first2=Jessica L. |last3=Bechly |first3=Günter |year=2016 |title=How to date a dragonfly: Fossil calibrations for odonates |journal=Palaeontologia Electronica |volume=19 |issue=1 |page=576 |doi=10.26879/576 |doi-access=free |url=http://palaeo-electronica.org/content/fc-8 }}</ref> though members of their [[Crown group|total group]], [[Odonatoptera]], first appeared in the [[Late Carboniferous]], making them one of the earliest groups of winged insects.<ref name=palaeo-electronica/> The fossils of odonates and their cousins, including [[Paleozoic]] "giant dragonflies" like ''[[Meganeuropsis]] permiana'' from the [[Permian]] of North America, reached wing spans of up to {{convert|71|cm|in|abbr=on}} and a body length of {{convert|43|cm|in|abbr=on}}, making it the largest insect of all time.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=F.L. |last2=Lasswell |first2=J. |year=2005 |title=A Dazzle of Dragonflies |publisher=Texas A&M University Press |page=47}}</ref> This insect belonged to the order [[Meganisoptera]], the griffinflies, related to odonates but not part of the modern order Odonata in the restricted sense. They have one of the most complete fossil records going back 319 million years.<ref name=Bybee-CórdbAglr-etal-2016>{{Cite journal |last1=Bybee |first1=Seth |last2=Córdoba-Aguilar |first2=Alex |last3=Duryea |first3=M. Catherine |last4=Futahashi |first4=Ryo |last5=Hansson |first5=Bengt |last6=Lorenzo-Carballa |first6=M. Olalla |last7=Schilder |first7=Ruud |last8=Stoks |first8=Robby |last9=Suvorov |first9=Anton |display-authors=3 |date=December 2016 |title=Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) as a bridge between ecology and evolutionary genomics |journal=Frontiers in Zoology |volume=13 |issue=1 |page=46 |doi=10.1186/s12983-016-0176-7 |doi-access=free |issn=1742-9994 |pmc=5057408 |pmid=27766110 }}</ref>

The Odonata is closely related to [[mayflies]] and several extinct orders in a group called the [[Palaeoptera]], but this grouping might be [[paraphyletic]]. What they do share with mayflies is the nature of [[insect flight|how the wings are articulated and held in rest]].<ref name="k975">{{cite journal | last1=Ninomiya | first1=Tomoya | last2=Yoshizawa | first2=Kazunori | title=A revised interpretation of the wing base structure in Odonata | journal=Systematic Entomology | volume=34 | issue=2 | date=2009 | issn=0307-6970 | doi=10.1111/j.1365-3113.2008.00455.x | pages=334–345| bibcode=2009SysEn..34..334N | hdl=2115/42988 | hdl-access=free }}</ref>

[[Tarsophlebiidae]] is a prehistoric family of Odonatoptera that can be considered either a basal lineage of Odonata or their immediate [[sister taxon]].<ref name="x206">{{cite journal| last1=Fleck | first1=G. | last2=Bechly | first2=G. | last3=Martinez-Delclòs | first3=X. | last4=Jarzembowski | first4=E.A. | last5=Nel | first5=A. | title= A revision of the Mesozoic dragonfly family Tarsophlebiidae, with a discussion on the phylogenetic positions of the Tarsophlebiidae and Sieblosiidae (Odonatoptera: Panodonata). | journal=Geodiversitas | date=2004-06-01 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278817520 | access-date=2024-06-04}}</ref>