Campyloptera eatoni Brongniart, 1893, the type species of the type genus of the Upper Carboniferous family Campylopteridae Handlirsch, is redescribed. It is not a Megasecoptera as previously supposed, but an Odonatoptera with a specialized wing venation. Although it has a more basal position than the Meganeuridae because of the absence of any nodal or subnodal structure, it has acquired a simple vein MA and a widening area between MP and CuA, convergently with the highly derived Discoidalia clade that includes the modern Odonata. A new diagnosis is given for Campylopteridae and its type genus, Campyloptera Brongniart. Campylopterodea Rohdendorf, 1962 falls as a new junior synonym under Odonatoptera Martynov, 1932.