Petaltails

Petaluridae is a family of dragonflies, commonly known as petaltails or graybacks.

They comprise eleven extant species in five genera distributed across Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Japan and North America.

Petalurids are among the oldest surviving dragonfly lineages and are notable for their large size and unusual semiterrestrial larvae, which typically live in burrows or wet seepage habitats rather than fully aquatic environments.

In the current classification of extant Odonata, Petaluridae is placed in the superfamily Gomphoidea. Earlier classifications recognised it as the sole extant family of Petaluroidea.