Britannica
Sources used in this answer
When did the earliest ancestors of odonates live?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Odonata
Male jewelwing damselfly (Calopteryx splendens).
The earliest ancestors of the order Odonata date back more than 300 million years to the Late Carboniferous Epoch. These ancient ancestors, which belong to the extinct order Protodonata, already exhibited wing vein patterns similar to those seen in modern dragonflies and damselflies, though they lacked the pterostigma found in today's species. These early insects predated the dinosaurs by nearly 100 million years.1