The discovery of aeschnidiid nymphs (Aeschnidiidae, Odonata, Insecta)

Aeschnidiid nymphs are here first identified and described, and its phylogenetic relationship and bioecological characteristics are deduced. The nymphs known from China, Mongolia, Russia and Brazil and arranged in the family Aeschnidiidae are, in fact, unrelated to this group. All the known five Chinese species in four genera which were erected based on fossil nymphs and placed in the family Gomphidae may be transferred in Aeschnidiidae and merged into one alone, theSinaeschnidia cancellosa. It is a geographically widespread species from the “Jehol biota” of East Asia and appeared in the latest Late Jurassic age.