The specimen was collected in 2000 and housed in the Departamento Científico Paleozoología Invertebrados, Museo de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina (MLP 29426). The specimen was originally partly covered, and was prepared with a pneumatic hammer.

We follow the wing venation nomenclature of Riek [16] and Riek and Kukalová-Peck [17], amended by Nel et al. [8] and Bechly [1]. The higher classification of fossil and extant Odonatoptera, as well as familial and generic characters followed in the present work are based on the phylogenetic system proposed by Bechly [1].

Clade Cavilabiata Bechly, 1996

Family Cordulephyidae Tillyard, 1917

Subfamily Neophyinae Tillyard and Fraser, 1940

Genus Palaeophya gen. n.

Type species. Palaeophya argentina sp. n.

Etymology. Named after (Neo)phya and “Palaeo”.

Diagnosis. Wing characters only; vein separating hypertriangle and discoidal triangle ending in MA at distal angle of discoidal triangle; only four antenodal cross-veins; four cross-veins in area between RA and RP basal of subnodus; two rows of cells in postdiscoidal area, two cells distal of triangle; anal area rather broad and large with five rows of cells between anal loop and posterior wing margin.

Palaeophya argentina sp. n. (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2)

Description. Preserved length of hind wing: 17 mm; wide of the wing at arculus level: 10 mm; distance from arculus to nodus: 5 mm; three complete antenodal cross-veins preserved, distal to the arculus, and certainly only one more (A × 1) basally; sectors of arculus stalked and strongly curved (costal side of hypertriangle very convex); trigonal vein (separating hypertriangle and discoidal triangle) distinctly curved, and ending in MA at distal angle of discoidal triangle; discoidal triangle isosceles; median space probably free; anal loop elongate, with two rows of cells and a very distinct median rib (Cuspl), but even if it is incomplete, probably without toe; anal area rather broad and large with five rows of cells between anal loop and posterior wing margin; four cross-veins in area between RA and RP basal of subnodus; one Bqr cross-vein; oblique vein “O” just distal of base of RP2; postdiscoidal area with one row of large transverse cells just distal of triangle but with two rows of cells distally; only base of Mspl visible but probably rudimentary; four visible postnodal cross-veins not aligned with corresponding postsubnodal cross-veins, no postsubnodal cross-vein corresponding to two most basal postnodal cross-veins.

Holotype. Specimen MLP 29426 (isolated hind wing), stored at the Departamento Científico Paleozoología Invertebrados, Museo de la Plata, La Plata, Argentina.

Type locality and horizon. Province of Jujuy, El Fuerte, latitude 24° 20′ S, longitude 64° 28′ W, green shales, Maíz Gordo Formation, Late Paleocene [15] and [20].

Etymology. Named after the country, Argentina.

Diagnosis. As for the genus.

Discussion. The main remarkable structure of Palaeophya gen. n. is the anterior side of the discoidal triangle (of hind wing) distinctly curved. Only few groups within the Cavilabiata have this character, viz. some Libellulidae, the Mesozoic Araripelibellulidae: Araripelibellulinae Bechly, 1996 (especially the English Wealdian Cretaneophya strevensi Jarzembowski and Nel, 1996), and the recent Neophya rutherfordi Selys, 1881 (Cordulephyidae Tillyard, 1917 of the subfamily Neophyinae Tillyard and Fraser, 1940) [4]. The concerned Libellulidae (Tetrathemis Brauer, 1868, Nannophlebia Selys, 1878) have this vein less curved than in Palaeophya gen. n., and narrower anal area and anal loop [18]. The main differences between Cretaneophya and Neophya lie in the size and shape of the anal loop, 2–3 cells in Cretaneophya instead of transverse elongate with a median vein in Neophya and in Palaeophya.

Furthermore Palaeophya has the wing venation synapomorphies of the Neophyinae, i.e. sectors of arculus stalked and strongly curved (costal side of hypertriangle very convex); trigonal vein, separating the hypertriangle from the discoidal triangle, distinctly curved. The other characters of Neophya are unknown in our fossil, viz. Rspl absent; RP2 and IR2, as well as RP3/4 and MA distally converging. All the other characters present in Palaeophya are identical to those of the recent Neophya rutherfordi, except for the trigonal vein ending in MA at the distal angle of discoidal triangle instead of before this angle in N. rutherfordi, and the presence of only four antenodal cross-veins instead of six in N. rutherfordi (pers. obs. [5]). Palaeophya also differs from N. rutherfordi in its broader anal area with five rows of cells between anal loop and posterior wing margin, instead of two.

The unique fossil taxon attributed to Neophya is from the Late Eocene–Early Oligocene, UK. Palaeophya argentina shares with the English fossil Neophya the presence of only four antenodal cross-veins, but the former differs from the latter in the presence of four cross-veins in the area between RA and RP basal of the subnodus, instead of two, and of two rows of cells in postdiscoidal area opposite the base of RP3/4, instead of only one in English fossil Neophya and N. rutherfordi. Lastly, Palaeophya differs from both the English fossil Neophya and N. rutherfordi in the presence of two rows of cells in postdiscoidal area, two cells distal of triangle.

Bechly [1] included in the Cordulephyidae the Australian genus Cordulephya and the Afrotropical Neophya. For this author, the sister group of the Cordulephyidae is the Haplohamulida Bechly, 1996 (= Oxygastridae Bechly, 1996 + Italoansida Bechly, 1996, i.e. Corduliidae, Hemicorduliidae and Libellulida). Cordulephya falls as sister group of the nominal gomphomacromiine Pseudocordulia in the molecular phylogeny of Ware et al. [21], but Neophya was not considered in this latter analysis. Nevertheless, both Cordulephya and Neophya certainly belong to clades that have more inclusive positions than the Libellulidae.

As the family Libellulidae is recorded from the Late Cretaceous [3], the lineage of Cordulephyidae could have been present at the same time. The antiquity of the Cordulephyidae is firstly supported by its recent distribution in Africa and Australia. Furthermore, the recent discovery of Neophyinae in the Paleocene–Eocene of Argentina and the Late Eocene of England [7] indicates a wide distribution in the Palaeogene and a recent relict distribution in Africa. These dragonflies were probably spread in the warm regions of the world during the Late Cretaceous and Paleogene and restricted in the Neogene to intertropical Africa. A similar situation occurs for the calopterygid genus Sapho Sélys, 1853, also distributed in the forests of West and central Africa, and recorded from France in the Late Oligocene [2] and [6]. Also a similar Palaeogene distribution has been recently indicated for the anisopteran fossil family Palaeomacromiidae, recorded from the Paleogene of Argentina and Italy [13] and [14] but this taxon differs in becoming totally extinct at recent times.