Tupus permianus Sellards 1906 Type specimen Tupus permianus
Lived 258 million years ago
Found in Elmo, Dickinson County, Kansas
The fossil imprint of this extinct dragonfly shows that it did not hover like dragonflies do today. It does not have struts near the base of the wing that are needed for powerful hovering. There were no mammals or birds on Earth when it lived—in fact it was the only flying predator of its time.
E. H. Sellards collected this specimen in Kansas in 1903, and later named and described the species. Dr. Sellards became the second director of the Texas Memorial Museum in 1938.
