Introduction

The genus Eumorbaeschna was erected by Bechly et al. (2001) to solve a genuine taxonomic mess, which was created by a several publications with misidentified specimens and incorrect attributions (e.g., Needham 1907 and Carpenter 1932). Previously, the same taxon was generally known under the incorrect scientific name “Morbaeschna muensteri”. The first valid description of this species was provided by Carpenter (1932), who incorrectly attributed it to the genus Cymatophlebia.

Eumorbaeschna jurassica (Carpenter, 1932) was previously the only known species of the Mesozoic stemgroup aeshnid family Eumorbaeschnidae (Bechly et al. 2001). All 18 known specimens had been found in the Upper Jurassic Solnhofen limestone of Bavaria. We here describe the first discovery of a new species of the genus Eumorbaeschna from the Upper Jurassic of Central Poland.

Institutional abbreviations.—MGFA, Museum of the Association of Friends of Geosciences “Phacops” in Łódź, Poland; SMNS, Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany; ZPAL, Institute of Paleobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, Poland.

Other abbreviations.—CuA, cubitus anterior; IR, interradius; MA, media anterior; Mspl, median supplement; pseudo-IRl, pseudo-interradius 1; RP, radius posterior; Rspl, radial supplement.

Geology, stratigraphy, and taphonomy

The type locality is the working quarry Owadów-Brzezinki that is located in the vicinity of Tomaszów Mazowiecki in Central Poland (Fig. 1A). The exposed Upper Jurassic carbonate sedimentary sequence of the Kcynia Formation can be divided into three sucessive units i.e., I, II, and III (= A, B, and C units of Zielińska 2003; compare Salomon et al. 2007; Fig. 1B). More precisely, the carbonates belong to the Middle Volgian (= Upper Tithonian) Zaraiskites scythicus Zone, Zaraiskites zarajskensis Subzone, uppermost part of the Zaraiskites regularis Horizon through almost the entire Zaraiskites zarajskensis Horizon (Fig. 1B). The lowermost unit I comprises, initially, yellowish thin-bedded marly limestone beds. The yellowish marly limestone (recently obscured) passes gradually upwards into massive fine-grained limestone (∼6.6 of total thickness), with indistinctive lamination, forming a few beds of 40–80 cm thickness (Fig. 1B). The overlying unit (II) is represented by thin-bedded, fine-grained limestone with occasional distinctive parallel lamination and mass occurrence of polychaete tubes in a thin horizon (Fig. 1B). The uppermost unit (III) is highly fossiliferous and has a horizon of finely bedded finegrained limestone at its base (= Corbulomima obscura horizon), dominated by small opportunistic bivalve Corbulomima obscura. Other fossils are significantly rare and represented by perfectly preserved moulds of mollusks, arthropods (including the first insect, Eumorbaeschna adriankini sp. nov., described herein), and well preserved teeth and bones of different vertebrates (Kin and Błażejowski 2012; Kin et al. 2012) Taphonomical evidence from the macrofossil assemblage of the fossiliferous Corbulomima obscura horizon indicates that the unit should be classified as a Konzentrat-Lagerstätte sensu Seilacher (1970). However, rare finding of almost completely preserved organisms (e.g., limulid and fish) within the fossiliferous Corbulomima obscura horizon suggests, that this horizon locally could also represent a transitional facies between a Konzentrat- and Konservat-Lagerstätte (Kin et al. 2013). The Corbulomima obscura horizon passes upwards into thin- to medium-bedded limestone with very rare corbulid bivalves, and almost no other macrofossils. These limestone beds can be divided into: (i) a lowermost thin bedded finegrained limestone; (ii) a median, 80 cm thick, synsedimentary intraclastic breccia (Fig. 1B); and (iii) an uppermost unit of thin bedded, fine-grained limestone.

In general, the sedimentary and palaeontological evidence from units I, II, and III documents a change from an offshore to nearshore, perhaps lagoonal, setting (Kin et al. 2012, 2013).

Material and methods

The drawing was made with a camera lucida on a Wild M5 stereo microscope, and the fossil was photographed with a Sony HX100V digital camera with Marumi +3 achromat macro lens. The figure has been subsequently edited and polished with the Adobe Photoshop CS3 imaging software.

Fig. 1.

A. Middle Volgian (= Upper Tithonian) palaeofacial map of Poland (after Gaździcka, 1998, slightly modified). B. Road map of Tomaszów Mazowiecki area showing location of Owadów-Brzezinki quarry. B. Stratigraphical position of the sedimentary sequence cropped out in the quarry at Owadów-Brzezinki showing the successive sedimentary units I–III of the Middle Volgian (= Upper Tithonian) strata. Z. reg., Zaraiskites regularis.

The terminology of odonate wing venation is based on Riek and Kukalová-Peck (1984), as modified by Nel et al. (1993) and Bechly (1996). The used phylogenetic classification of the order Odonata is mainly based on Bechly (1996, 2003) and Bechly et al. (2001).

Systematic palaeontology

Fig. 2.

Dragonfly Eumorbaeschna adriankini sp. no v., holotype ZPAL J1/O-B1; Upper Tithonian, Owadów-Brzezinki quarry, Poland. Forewing in ventral view (A) and explanatory drawing (B). Abbreviations: CuA, cubitus anterior; IR, interrradius; MA, media anterior; MP, media posterior; Mspl, median supplement; RA, radius anterior; RP, radius posterior; Rspl, radial supplement; ScP, subcosta posterior.