Cordulegastridae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Cladus: Odonatoptera
Cladus: Holodonata
Ordo: Odonata
Subordo: Epiprocta
Infraordo: Anisoptera
Superfamilia: Cordulegastroidea

Familia: Cordulegastridae
Genera: Anotogaster - Cordulegaster - Neallogaster

Name

Cordulegastridae Calvert, 1893
References

Calvert, P.P. 1893: Catalogue of the Odonata, dragonflies, of the vicinity of Philadelphia; with an introduction to the study of this group of insects. American Entomological Society, 1893.
Cordulegastridae – Taxon details on Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).

Vernacular names
беларуская: Булавабрухі
Deutsch: Quelljungfern
English: biddies, Spiketails
日本語: オニヤンマ科
Nederlands: Bronlibellen
русский: Булавобрюхи
中文: 勾蜓科, 大蜓科, 鬼蜓科

The Cordulegastridae are a family of Odonata (dragonflies) from the suborder Anisoptera. They are commonly known as spiketails.[2] Some vernacular names for the species of this family are biddie and flying adder.[3] They have large, brown or black bodies with yellow markings, and narrow unpatterned wings. Their bright eyes touch at a single point, and they can be found along small, clear, woodland streams, flying slowly 30 to 70 cm above the water. When disturbed, however, they can fly very rapidly. They usually hunt high in forest vegetation, and prefer to capture prey resting on leaves or branches (known as gleaning).[4]

The Cordulegastridae usually lay their eggs in the sand in shallow water, the female hovering just above the water with her body in a vertical position, and making repeated dips into the water with her abdomen.[5]

The family is distributed worldwide; all eight species in North America belong to the genus Cordulegaster.[3]

The name Cordulegastridae comes from the Greek kordylinus, 'club-shaped' and gaster, belly. The common name spiketails refers to the females' prominent ovipositors.[2]
References

Martin Schorr; Martin Lindeboom; Dennis Paulson. "World Odonata List". University of Puget Sound. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
Berger, Cynthia (2004). Dragonflies: Wild Guide. Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-2971-0.
Tim Manolis; Timothy D. Manolis (April 2003), Dragonflies and Damselflies of California (California Natural History Guides (Paperback)) (in German), University of California Press, p. 40, ISBN 0-520-23567-3
Munroe, Kevin (2012). "Spiketail family – Cordulegastridae" (PDF). Dragonflies of North Virginia. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
Donald Joyce Borror; Dwight Moore DeLong. An introduction to the study of insects. ISBN 978-0-03-082861-4.