Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2022 | 14(6): 21327–21330
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7662.14.6.21327-21330
#7662 | Received 16 September 2021 | Final
received 19 May 2022 | Finally accepted 01 June 2022
Report of Euphaea
pseudodispar Sadasivan
& Bhakare, 2021 (Insecta:
Odonata) from Kerala, India
P.K. Muneer 1, M. Madhavan 2 &
A. Vivek Chandran 3
1,2 Ferns Nature Conservation
Society, PB No. 28, Mananthavady, Wayanad, Kerala
670645, India.
2 Tholpetty eco-development committee,
Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala 670646, India.
3 Society for Odonate
Studies, Vellooparampil, Kuzhimattom
PO, Kottayam, Kerala 686533, India.
3 Department of Geology and
Environmental Science, Christ College, Irinjalakuda,
Thrissur, Kerala 680125, India.
1 muneerputhukudy@gmail.com,2 madhavantholpetty@gmail.com,
3 avivekchandran2@gmail.com
Editor: Ashish D. Tiple,
Vidyabharati College, Wardha, India. Date
of publication: 26 June 2022 (online & print)
Citation: Muneer, P.K., M. Madhavan & A.V. Chandran (2022). Report of Euphaea
pseudodispar Sadasivan
& Bhakare, 2021 (Insecta:
Odonata) from Kerala, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 14(6): 21327–21330. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7662.14.6.21327-21330
Copyright: © Muneer et al. 2022. Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: None.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors thank Society for Odonate Studies (SOS), Kerala for the encouragement to
undertake field studies on odonates. The
corresponding author would like to thank Suryanarayanan
T.B. for his help in the laboratory.
Euphaea pseudodispar Sadasivan & Bhakare, 2021
is a newly described damselfly in the family Euphaeidae.
It was described along with E. thosegharensis Sadasivan & Bhakare, 2021
based on specimens collected from Thoseghar, Satara district, Maharashtra, northern Western Ghats, India
(Bhakare et al. 2021). The genus Euphaea
Selys, 1840 currently has 35 species distributed
in the Indo-Malaya (Paulson et al. 2021). India has seven known species of Euphaea, five of them distributed in the Western
Ghats and two in the northeastern region. The two
newly described species, E. pseudodispar and E.
thosegharensis were considered to be confined to
the northern Western Ghats of Maharashtra (Bhakare et
al. 2021). We report E. pseudodispar from Thirunelly, Wayanad district, Kerala, at a distance of more
than 650 km from the type locality (Image 1).
Thirunelly (11.9117°N 75.9933°E, 850 m) is a small temple
town adjoining the forests of North Wayanad Forest Division in Kerala, southern
India. River Kalindi originates in the Brahmagiri hills, flows through the temple town briefly and
re-enters the forest. Odonate species commonly
encountered in this stretch of the river include Neurobasis
chinensis (Linnaeus, 1758), Vestalis apicalis Selys, 1873, Heliocypha
bisignata (Hagen in Selys,
1853), Euphaea fraseri (Laidlaw,
1920), Copera vittata (Selys, 1863), Prodasineura
verticalis (Selys,
1860), Pseudagrion rubriceps Selys, 1876, Anax immaculifrons Rambur, 1842, Gomphidia
kodaguensis Fraser, 1923, Hylaeothemis apicalis Fraser,
1924, and Neurothemis fulvia (Drury,
1773).
On 22
August 2021, during a walk along the river Kalindi,
we encountered three species of Euphaea, viz.,
fraseri, dispar,
and pseudodispar (Image 2). The
river was in full spate and the authors recorded 40 individuals of E. pseudodispar, 35 individuals of E. fraseri, and four individuals of E. dispar in traversing 1 km along its bank (Image 3).
Later, one male E. pseudodispar was collected
for the detailed study of morphology and structure of secondary genitalia. The
specimen was deposited at the insect collections of the De-partment
of Geology and Environmental Science, Christ College, Thrissur district,
Kerala. Photographs of live specimen were taken with a Nikon D850 camera and Nikkor 105 mm macro lens (Image 3). Secondary genitalia was
studied under a Labomed Luxeo
6Z stereomicroscope (Images 5, Figure 1).
Material
examined: CC.G & ES.O12, 1 male, Thirunelly
(11.911°N 75.993°E, 850 m), 31.x.2021, coll. Muneer P.K.
Description:
Total length: 48 mm, abdomen: 38 mm, forewing: 34 mm, hindwing: 33 mm.
Head:
Labium black; labrum pale bluish-white with a median
black ‘tongue’ like mark; Mandible pale bluish-white with an upper transverse
black streak; anteclypeus, postclypeus,
antefrons, & postfrons
black and genae pale yellowish-white. Eyes, antennae,
and vertex black.
Thorax:
Prothorax matte black with two yellowish spots. Ground colour of thorax
orange-red; dorsal carina black; mesepisternum matte
black; humeral stripe yellowish-orange; antehumeral
stripe pale yellow and thin; mesepimeron yellow
superiorly and orange inferiorly, and encloses a central broad black band.
Legs: extensor surface of foreleg femora smoky black; hind and middle legs red;
all joints black. Wings: hyaline, veins black; cubital space with three cross
veins in all wings; distal fourth of hindwings coloured black.
Abdomen:
Proximal segments reddish-orange and distal ones black, the transition
happening on S6. S2 with black, rounded genital vesicle; penis with a single
seta on each side. Hair tufts present on central part of sternite
and lateral aspects of tergite on S8 and lateral tufts on proximal aspect of
tergite of S9. On S9, the gonopore margin is oval; gonocoxae
with blunt apices, no spine. In lateral view, the sternite
of S9 extends mid-ventrally like a beak. Anal appendages: General structure as
in the genus; cerci and paraprocts fully black.
The studied
male specimen differed from the holotype in the following details: the extensor
surface of the foreleg femora had only a smoky black colouration over the basal
red and the distal fourth of the hindwings were coloured black instead of the
distal fifth.
Three Euphaea species were known to occur in Kerala
before the current observation. These include E. cardinalis (Fraser,
1924) seen in mountain streams south of the Palghat gap in the Anamalai, Palani, and Agasthyamalai
hills; E. dispar Rambur, 1842 confined to the
mountain streams north of the Palghat gap from South Kanara and Coorg to the Nilgiris; and E. fraseri (Laidlaw,
1920) distributed throughout the foothills of the Western Ghats (Fraser 1934;
Subramanian et al. 2018). This study adds a fourth Euphaea
species, E. pseudodispar to the odonate fauna of Kerala state. In Thirunelly,
where it co-occurred with two of its congenerics, E.
pseudodispar stood out because of its thoracic
colouration and intermediate size, E. fraseri being
considerably smaller, and E. dispar slightly
larger. This observation accentuates the need for undertaking more rigorous
field surveys in the Western Ghats in order to have a better understanding of
the distribution of its Odonata.
For figure & images
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References
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(Odonata: Zygoptera: Euphaeidae)
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