DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2547d7wwx
title: Data from: Little bits of dragonfly history repeating exemplified by a new Pennsylvanian family

description: During its 320 million years evolution, dragon- and damselflies (Odonata)
 wing morphology underwent intense modifications. The resulting diversity
 prompted comparative analyses focusing on phylogeny. However, homoplasy
 proved to plague wing-related characters. Concurrently, limited benefits
 were obtained from considering fossil taxa, similarly impacted. Herein we
 investigate two aspects particularly affected by convergence, namely the
 acquisition of vein-like structuring elements derived from regular
 cross-venation, termed conamina; and the evolution of butter knife wing
 shape. Conamen implementation is found to be consistently linked with vein
 curvature sharpening, itself generating potential breaking points.
 Conamina therefore likely evolved to address wing integrity issues during
 ever-more-demanding flight performance. Moreover, an existing conamen is
 likely to trigger the acquisition of further, associated conamina. As for
 butter knife shape, previously documented in the extinct Archizygoptera
 and among damselflies, we report a new, 315-million-years-old occurrence
 with the rare species Haidilaozhen cuiae gen. et sp. nov. (family
 Haidilaozhenidae fam. nov.), from the Xiaheyan locality (China). The
 repeated acquisition of butter-knife-shaped wing can be related to
 slow-speed flight and, in turn, predator avoidance. In both cases of
 iterated regularities, the unique ‘network-and-membrane’ wing design
 proper to insects is found to compose a strong, constraining factor.
description: The dataset contains a RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging)
 of the right wings of the fossil insect specimen MNHN.F.R51142
 ('Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle', Paris, France),
 holotype of <em>Meganeura</em> <em>monyi</em>
 (Brongniart, 1884). The RTI file composing this dataset
 was derived from a set of 54 photographs obtained using a light dome of
 about 50 cm in diameter and equipped with 54 LEDs. Both the light dome and
 camera (a Canon EOS 5DS equipped with a 50 mm macro lens, all Canon,
 Tokyo, Japan) were driven by a control box (dome and control box, Flydome,
 Paris, France). Obtained images were then batch-optimized using Adobe
 Photoshop CS6 and were further compiled into an RTI file using the RTI
 Builder software v. 2.0.2 using the HSH fitter (software freely available
 from Cultural Heritage Imaging, San Francisco, CA, USA).
description: The RTI file composing this dataset can be opened using RTIviewer
 (software freely available from Cultural Heritage Imaging, San Francisco,
 CA, USA).
description: # Data from: Little bits of dragonfly history repeating exemplified by a
 new Pennsylvanian family The dataset contains a RTI (Reflectance
 Transformation Imaging) of the right wings of the fossil insect specimen
 MNHN.F.R51142 ('Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris,
 France), holotype of *Meganeura monyi* (Brongniart, 1884). The RTI file
 composing this dataset was derived from a set of 54 photographs obtained
 using a light dome of about 50 cm in diameter and equipped with 54 LEDs.
 Both the light dome and camera (a Canon EOS 5DS equipped with a 50 mm
 macro lens, all Canon, Tokyo, Japan) were driven by a control box (dome
 and control box, Flydome, Paris, France). Obtained images were then
 batch-optimized using Adobe Photoshop CS6 and were further compiled into
 an RTI file using the RTI Builder software v. 2.0.2 using the HSH fitter
 (software freely available from Cultural Heritage Imaging, San Francisco,
 CA, USA). The RTI file composing this dataset can be opened using
 RTIviewer (software freely available from Cultural Heritage Imaging, San
 Francisco, CA, USA).