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‘Living Fossil’ Damselflies Get Their Own Families!

A new family of damselfly described by Dr. John Abbott.
A new family of damselfly described by Dr. John Abbott.

A large molecular study has confirmed what was thought for a while: some isolated groups with at most a handful of species each are so unique that they have no close living relatives remaining. Five new families were named and two were revived. Among them are the protos (Protolestidae) and rockstars (Tatocnemididae) from Madagascar, and the Amani Flatwing (Amanipodagrionidae), known from just one stream in Tanzania!

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