Giant damselflies
| Pseudostigmatidae | |
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| Female Megaloprepus caerulatus in Costa Rica | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Subphylum: | Hexapoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Odonata |
| Suborder: | Zygoptera |
| Family: |
Pseudostigmatidae Tillyard, 1917 |
| Genera | |
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The Pseudostigmatidae are a family of tropical damselflies, known as helicopter damselflies, giant damselflies, or forest giants. The family includes the largest of all damselfly species. They specialize in preying on web-building spiders, and breed in phytotelmata, the small bodies of water held by plants such as bromeliads.
The species traditionally placed in Pseudostigmatidae are all Neotropical. Two range as far as northeastern Mexico: Mecistogaster ornata occurs in Tamaulipas and Pseudostigma aberrans in both Tamaulipas and Nuevo León.
In 2006, molecular phylogenetic analysis confirmed that the African damselfly Coryphagrion grandis, previously often classified within Megapodagrionidae or in a monotypic family Coryphagrionidae, belonged within family Pseudostigmatidae, close to genus Mecistogaster, as was proposed already ten years before. This finding suggests that the family dates back to before the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana.
As with other damselflies, the young—known as naiads, nymphs, or larvae—have gills and live in fresh water. The tropical forests where pseudostigmatids live typically have few ponds and lakes, so the water that collects in or on plants is an important habitat. Water-filled tree holes and bromeliad tanks are the most dependable and widespread habitats available to pseudostigmatid naiads, and a majority of species use tree holes. Tree hole species are rarely found in bromeliads and vice versa, probably because bromeliad phytotelmata have much higher oxygen content than those in tree holes. One species apparently specializes in bamboo stems that have filled with water after being breached by other insects. In areas where tree holes are uncommon, naiads of a few species can be found in fallen fruit husks, though these phytotelmata may dry out quickly or be overturned by animals. Fallen palm bracts provide an even more unstable habitat, and no pseudostigmatid naiads have ever been found in them. There remain six species known as adults whose larvae have not yet been identified.
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Wikipedia