Epiophlebia sinensis sp.n., a third species of the relict odonatan family Epiophlebiidae, is described from two male adults collected in Heilongjiang province, China. The new species lives in an environment rather similar to that of the two other species, E. superstes and E. laidlawi, i.e. along cold streams in a coniferous and deciduous forest. Possible explanations for the lack of fossil Epiophlebiidae and the biogeography of these damsel‐dragonflies are proposed.