Smart Engineering in the Mid-Carboniferous: How Well Could Palaeozoic Dragonflies Fly?
R. J. Wootton,
*
J. Kukalová-Peck,
D. J. S. Newman,
J. Muzón
The wings of archaic Odonatoidea from the mid-Carboniferous
of Argentina show features analogous to "smart" mechanisms in modern dragonflies that are associated with the agile, versatile flight
necessary to catch prey in flight. These mechanisms act automatically
in flight to depress the trailing edge and to facilitate wing twisting,
in response to aerodynamic loading. The presence of similar features
suggests that the earliest known odonatoids were already becoming
adapted for high-performance flight in association with a predatory
habit.
R. J. Wootton and D. J. S. Newman, Department of
Biological Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4PS, UK. J. Kukalová-Peck, Department of Geology, Carleton University, Ottawa
K1S 5B6, Canada. J. Muzón, Instituto de Limnológia, La
Plata, Argentina.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
r.j.wootton{at}exeter.ac.uk
