The earliest damselfly-like insect and the origin of modern dragonflies (Insecta: Odonatoptera: Protozygoptera)

The first Carboniferous protozygopteran is formally described from the late Westphalian Coal Measures of southern England. Bechlya ericrobinsoni gen. et sp. nov. (Bechlyidae fam. nov.) is the oldest representative of a lineage which includes all living dragonflies and damselflies. This discovery shows that small, damselfly-like forms co-existed with the giant dragonflies of the Euramerican coal swamps.