Lestidae
Encyclopedia
Lestidae is a rather small family of cosmopolitan, large-sized, slender damselflies
. They are of the order of the dragonflies (Odonata
) and are commonly known as "Spreadwings." There are two subfamilies in Lestdae. The first subfamily is Lestinae. Damselflies in Lestinae rest with their wings partly open and the second subfamily is Sympecmatinae. The damselflies in Sympecmatinae rest with their wings folded. These damselflies in this subfamily are reedlings, ringtails, and winter damselflies.
While most damselflies rest with their wings folded together, most members of the family Lestidae hold them at an angle away from their bodies. The pterostigma
(a single dark spot in the meshwork of the leading edge near the tip of each wing) is noticeably elongated. The quadrilateral
(a part of the wing venation, close to the body) has an acute angle at the end. The body has a greenish metallic shine. The superior anal appendages, commonly called claspers (body parts of male insect for clasping the female during copulation) of male spreadwings are long and strongly curved.
The generic makeup is still disputed going from 12 genera (Davies, 1981) to 8 genera (Bridges, 1994)
Damselfly
Damselflies are insects in the order Odonata. Damselflies are similar to dragonflies, but the adults can be distinguished by the fact that the wings of most damselflies are held along, and parallel to, the body when at rest...
. They are of the order of the dragonflies (Odonata
Odonata
Odonata is an order of insects, encompassing dragonflies and damselflies . The word dragonfly is also sometimes used to refer to all Odonata, but the back-formation odonate is a more correct English name for the group as a whole...
) and are commonly known as "Spreadwings." There are two subfamilies in Lestdae. The first subfamily is Lestinae. Damselflies in Lestinae rest with their wings partly open and the second subfamily is Sympecmatinae. The damselflies in Sympecmatinae rest with their wings folded. These damselflies in this subfamily are reedlings, ringtails, and winter damselflies.
Pterostigma
The pterostigma is a cell in the outer wing of insects which is often thickened or coloured and so stands out from other cells. It is particularly noticeable in dragonflies, but present also in other insect groups, such as snakeflies, hymenopterans and megalopterans.The purpose of the pterostigma,...
(a single dark spot in the meshwork of the leading edge near the tip of each wing) is noticeably elongated. The quadrilateral
Quadrilateral
In Euclidean plane geometry, a quadrilateral is a polygon with four sides and four vertices or corners. Sometimes, the term quadrangle is used, by analogy with triangle, and sometimes tetragon for consistency with pentagon , hexagon and so on...
(a part of the wing venation, close to the body) has an acute angle at the end. The body has a greenish metallic shine. The superior anal appendages, commonly called claspers (body parts of male insect for clasping the female during copulation) of male spreadwings are long and strongly curved.
The generic makeup is still disputed going from 12 genera (Davies, 1981) to 8 genera (Bridges, 1994)