A group of insects that became extinct about 10 million years ago are actually not damselflies, says Simon Fraser University paleontologist Bruce Archibald. Both Zygoptera and Cephalozygoptera are now divisions under the order for flying insects, Odonata. Archibald has spent three decades examining insect fossils on the Okanagan Highland, a 200-kilometre plateau running from southern B.C. Wing of Okanagrion hobani, an extinct damselfly-like insect species categorized under the new suborder Cephalozygoptera, a named coined by Simon Fraser Univerity paleontologist Bruce Archibald. Paleontologist Bruce Archibald says scientists have confused Zygoptera, meaning damselflies, with Cephalozygoptera for more than 150 years.

Source: CBC News March 02, 2021 23:09 UTC