Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 November 2022 | 14(11): 22164–22178

 

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7715.14.11.22164-22178

#7715 | Received 19 October 2021 | Final received 06 August 2022 | Finally accepted 12 November 2022

 

 

An annotated checklist of odonates of Amboli-Chaukul-Parpoli region showing new records for the Maharashtra State, India with updated state checklist

 

Dattaprasad Sawant 1, Hemant Ogale 2 & Rakesh Mahadev Deulkar 3

 

1 M.D. Community Medicine, Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400012, India.

2 1040, Whistling Woods, Amboli, Sindhudurg, Maharashtra 416510, India.

3 87, Bazarwadi, Amboli, Sindhudurg, Maharashtra 416510, India.

1,2 Indian Foundation for Butterflies, in National Centre for Biological Sciences, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Kodigehalli, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560097, India.  

1 dattaprasad.101@gmail.com (corresponding author), 2 hvogale@gmail.com, 3 rakeshdeulkar5@gmail.com

 

 

Editor: Ashish D. Tiple, Vidyabharati college, Wardha, India.     Date of publication: 26 November 2022 (online & print)

 

Citation: Sawant, D., H. Ogale & R.M. Deulkar (2022). An annotated checklist of odonates of Amboli-Chaukul-Parpoli region showing new records for the Maharashtra State, India with updated state checklist. Journal of Threatened Taxa 14(11): 22164–22178. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7715.14.11.22164–22178

 

Copyright: © Sawant 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: This is a self funded study.

 

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

 

Author details: Dattaprasad Sawant is a Doctor by profession and completed his MD in Preventive and Social Medicine. He is a self taught photographer and discovered three odonata species new to science. Hemant Ogale is a renowned butterfly and dragonfly expert and a master in micro photography. He has studied butterflies across the Western Ghats which resulted in documenting more than 100+ butterfly life cycles, several new host plant records and range extensions.Rakesh Mahadev Deulkar is a naturalist based in Amboli, Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra. He completed his masters in biodiversity. He is a kin bird, butterfly and odonata watcher with good photography skills.

 

Author contributions: All the three authors equally contributed in field surveys, odonata identification, data compilation, specimen collection and manuscript preparation.

 

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Nikhil Gaitonde, Pratiksha Naik, Sonali Ogale, and Srujan Ogale for their invaluable support in field surveys and logistics. We are also grateful to Shantanu Joshi for providing assistance in preserving collected specimens at NCBS, Bengaluru. 

 

 

 

Abstract: Amboli region, consisting Amboli, Chaukul, Nene, and Parpoli villages is one of the biodiversity rich areas in northern Western Ghats. We opportunistically surveyed odonates from the region and prepared an annotated checklist of 93 species belonging to 12 families. We report 15 Western Ghats endemic species and six new records for the State of Maharashtra. We further present an updated checklist of Odonata of Maharashtra state with a total of 144 species. 

 

Keywords: Anisoptera, biodiversity, range extension, Sindhudurg, Western Ghats, taxonomy, zygoptera.

 

 

 

Introduction

 

The Western Ghats mountain range runs parallel to the west coast of peninsular India. The high human population density, changing use of landscape, pollution, natural disasters like landslides, increased anthropogenic interference and climate change have a negative impact in conserving biodiversity of this region. The Western Ghats has been thoroughly surveyed for odonates. Fraser (1933, 1934, 1936) and many others did comprehensive documentation in this region. Subramanian & Babu (2020) made a checklist of 196 odonates species of Western Ghats with Kerala having the most number of species. Regarding Maharashtra state, Tiple & Koparde (2015) recorded 134 species (see discussion). After that many species have been added to the list of Maharashtra with no formal efforts to compile them.

Amboli region is considered as one of the most biodiverse regions in Maharashtra with semi-evergreen forest and heavy rainfall (Satose et al. 2018). Amboli region consists of Amboli, Chaukul, Nene, and Parpoli villages, out of which Parpoli is located at the foothills of Western Ghats and remaining are located at the high altitude (100─1,100 m). The landscape around Amboli is heterogenous with patches of evergreen forest, riparian habitats, open lateritic plateaus with grasslands, and moist deciduous forests at mid and low elevations. Due to the unique location at the junction of northern and central Western Ghats with drastic variation in habitats, Amboli region harbors many spectacular odonate species. However, no attempt was made to document the Odonata fauna of this region. We surveyed Amboli region for two years and here we present an annotated checklist of 93 odonates with six new records for Maharashtra state. We also update the checklist of Maharashtra, which now contains 144 species. 

 

 

Material and Methods

 

We opportunistically surveyed Amboli-Chaukul-Parpoli region of Sawantwadi Taluka, Sindhudurg District from August 2019 to August 2021 for odonates. Details of survey locations are given in Table 1 with photographs in Image 1. We photographed odonates and collected a few individuals from non-protected areas for the purpose of identification. All collected specimens are deposited in Research Collections, National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, India (details of all specimens are given in Table 2). Field photographs were taken with DSLR cameras and macro lenses (Canon Inc. and Nikon Inc., Japan). We identified odonates based on the Fraser (1933, 1934, 1936); Subramanian et al. (2018). Systematic arrangement of the species follows Kalkman et al. (2020). As the subspecies status of some species remains unresolved, the present checklist is up to the species level. Abbreviations in the text: S1–S10 = abdominal segments 1–10. Maps are created with QGIS v3.10.2 and Google Maps © 2021. Distribution maps are based on the data given by Subramanian et al. (2018) and Anonymous (2021a, 2021b, 2021c).

 

 

Results and Discussion

 

We recorded a total of 93 odonates belonging to 12 families, with family Libellulidae having the highest number of species (38 species), followed by family Coenagrionidae (20 species) (see Table 6; Images 2─6). Detailed checklist of odonates with their International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species status is given in Table 3. According to IUCN Red List Version 2021─2, one species is Vulnerable (VU), one is Near Threatened (NT), and six are Data Deficient (DD). Out of 93 species, 15 species are endemic to the Western Ghats (Subramanian et al. 2018; Kalkman et al. 2020; Bhakare et al. 2021). We also report six species for the first time in Maharashtra State which are the northernmost range extensions for the respective species (see Table 4; Image 7). Taxonomical and distributional notes on these six species are as follows:

 Protosticta sanguinostigma Fraser, 1922. Hemant Ogale photographed this Western Ghats endemic damselfly in a hill stream of Nene village on 6.vi.2021 (Image 2c). Three males were observed resting in bushes out of which one male was collected. It was identified by a robust, pointed spine of cerci (Image 2d); brown synthorax with bluish stripes, and blue mark on S8 with narrow black line on dorsum. Earlier, the species was known from Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu (Subramanian et al. 2018). Thus, P. sanguinostigma is reported from Maharashtra state for the first time with distribution range extension in northern Western Ghats (Image 7b).  

 Cyclogomphus flavoannulatus Rangnekar et al., 2019. Hemant Ogale photographed a small sized female Gomphid in Amboli on 02.x.2011. The species was identified as C. flavoannulatus female based on absence of yellow ‘Y’-shaped mark on synthorax and basal yellow annular rings on abdominal segments (Image 4h). The species was known from Kerala and Goa (Rangnekar et al. 2019). This observation is the first record from Maharashtra state with distributional range extension for the species (Image 7c).

 Megalogomphus hannyngtoni (Fraser, 1923). Hemant Ogale photographed a large sized male Gomphid in Amboli on 9.vi.2021. It was identified by its large size; long and sharp pointed caudal appendages with ‘sabre’-like appearance; apple green markings on black synthorax, and prominent yellow markings on S8─10 (Image 4l). This ‘Near Threatened’ Western Ghats endemic dragonfly was earlier known from Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, and Odisha (Subramanian 2011; Subramanian et al. 2018). Present record is the first from Maharashtra state and also extends the distribution range of M. hannyngtoni (Image 7d).

 Melligomphus acinaces (Laidlaw, 1922). Hemant Ogale photographed a male of medium sized Gomphid, resting on rocks in Parpoli stream on 30.xi.2019. It was easily identified by its ‘claw’-like caudal appendages with paraprocts longer than cerci (Image 4m). Koparde et al. (2014) recorded similar individuals from Parpoli and Verle villages. They wrongly identified the species as Lamelligomphus nilgiriensis (= Onychogomphus nilgiriensis). Tiple & Koparde (2015) retained the same record in the checklist of Maharashtra. After close examination of photographs provided by Koparde et al. (2014), we identified the male as M. acinaces. Dattaprasad Sawant photographed a male in Shahapur Taluka, Thane District in 2018 which is another record of this species in Maharashtra state. Earlier the species was known from Gujrat, Karnataka, and Kerala (Rathod et al. 2016; Subramanian et al. 2018) (Image 7e). Our records fill the distribution gap for M. acinaces.

 Epithemis mariae (Laidlaw, 1915). Hemant Ogale and Dattaprasad Sawant observed many individuals of E. mariae in Amboli, Chakul and Nene villages (Image 5g). This medium sized Libellulid can be easily identified by its bright red coloured proximal abdominal segments. This Western Ghats endemic dragonfly was reported by Sathe & Bhusnar (2010) from Kolhapur, but omitted by Tiple & Koparde (2015) due to absence of taxonomic identity or spatial distribution. Here we confirmed its presence in Maharashtra state with photographic evidence (Image 7f). The species can be easily seen in riverine habitats from mid-August to October. 

 Idionyx saffronata Fraser, 1924. Hemant Ogale collected a pair of Idionyx sp. from Amboli on 10.vi.2021 (Image 6p). Later it was confirmed as I. saffronata based on the shape of caudal appendages of male. Paraprocts are trifid with a broad apical portion (Image 6q). Genus Idionyx is distributed till Goa state in the Western Ghats but not reported from Maharashtra state (Subramanian et al. 2018). We confirm the presence of I. saffronata in Maharashtra with distributional range extension for the species (Image 7g).

Despite being one of the most biodiverse regions in the northern Western Ghats, no efforts were taken for documentation of Odonata fauna of Amboli-Chaukul-Parpoli region. Due to the unique location of Amboli, it was speculated to have many endemic odonates. Out of total number of species we reported, ~16% are endemic to the Western Ghats, highlighting the rich biodiversity of the region with need of conservation of natural habitat. Western Ghats and adjacent areas in Sindhudurg district are facing tremendous anthropogenic pressure in the form of habitat loss. Change in existing landscape may lead to the disappearance of species which are extremely seasonal and localized in a small geographic area.

Maharashtra state has varied biogeography due to which it harbors several species of flora and fauna. The state has been thoroughly studied in terms of odonates. Tipale & Koparde (2015) combined various checklists and made a comprehensive database of odonates. They recorded a total of 134 species from 11 families. Since then, many species have been reported and discovered from Maharashtra. Table 4 gives detailed information of species added to Odonata fauna of Maharashtra. Citizen Science platforms such as Indian Odonata have contributed for understanding the distribution range of many odonates (Joshi et al. 2021). However, due to some taxonomic changes, a few species are omitted from the Odonata checklist. Details about such species and the reason for omission is given in Table 5. Hence the updated Odonata checklist of Maharashtra has 144 species from 13 families. Table 6 shows the taxonomic breakup with families arranged as per Kalkman et al. (2020).

Odonates are freshwater insects and need stable microhabitat for reproduction. The Western Ghats including Amboli region is now under constant threat of habitat loss resulting from anthropogenic activities. Systematic surveys are needed to document the overall biodiversity of this unique landscape which will ultimately help to make appropriate habitat conservation plans.

 

 

Table 1. Survey locations (all locations fall in Sawantwadi Taluka, Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra).

 

Location

Latitude

Longitude

Altitude (in meter)

Habitat

01

Amboli

15.9647 °N

74.0036 °E

690

High altitude streams, wetlands and seasonal ponds

02

Chaukul

15.9283 °N

74.0388 °E

800

High altitude streams, wetlands and plateau lake

03

Dabhil

15.8969 °N

73.9330 °E

190

Low altitude forested stream

04

Nene

15.926 0°N

74.0223 °E

800

High altitude riverine habitat

05

Parpoli

15.9542 °N

73.9771 °E

100

Low altitude forested stream

 

 

Table 2. Details of collected specimens.

 

Specimen deposited at

Voucher code

Species

Sex

Preservation method

01

NCBS

BN825

Protosticta sanguinostigma

Male

Dry only

02

NCBS

BN806

Euphaea thosegharensis

Male

Dry only

03

NCBS

BN805

Bradinopyga konkanensis

Male

Dry only

04

NCBS

BN807

Idionyx saffronata

Male

Dry only

05

NCBS

BN808

Idionyx saffronata

Female

Dry only

06

NCBS

BN827

Macromidia donaldi

Male

Dry only

07

NCBS

BN828

Macromidia donaldi

Female

Dry only

 

 

Table 3. Checklist of odonates of Amboli-Chaukul-Parpoli region, Sindhudurg District.

 

Scientific name

Authority

IUCN

Red List status

Image

 

Suborder: Zygoptera Selys, 1854

 

Family: Lestidae Calvert, 1901                                                                                                   

01

Lestes concinnus

Hagen in Selys, 1862

LC

-

02

Lestes elatus

Hagen in Selys, 1862

LC

2a

03

Lestes viridulus

Rambur, 1842

LC

2b

 

Family: Platystictidae Kennedy, 1920

04

Protosticta sanguinostigma*#

Fraser, 1922

VU

2c-d

 

Family: Calopterygidae Selys, 1850

05

Neurobasis chinensis

(Linnaeus, 1758)

LC

2e

06

Vestalis apicalis

Selys, 1873

LC

2f

07

Vestalis gracilis

(Rambur, 1842)

LC

2g

 

Family: Chlorocyphidae Cowley, 1937

08

Heliocypha bisignata

(Hagen in Selys, 1853)

LC

2h

09

Libellago indica

(Fraser, 1928)

NE

2i

 

Family: Euphaeidae Yakobson & Bainchi, 1905

10

Euphaea fraseri#

(Laidlaw, 1920)

LC

2j

11

Euphaea pseudodispar#

Sadasivan & Bhakare, 2021

NE

2k

12

Euphaea thosegharensis#

Sadasivan & Bhakare, 2021

NE

2l

 

Family: Platycnemididae Yakobson & Bainchi, 1905

13

Caconeura ramburi

(Fraser, 1922)

DD

2m

14

Copera marginipes

(Rambur, 1842)

LC

2n

15

Copera vittata

Selys, 1863

LC

2o

16

Disparoneura quadrimaculata

(Rambur, 1842)

LC

2p

17

Elattoneura tetrica#

(Laidlaw, 1917)

LC

2q

18

Prodasineura verticalis

(Selys, 1860)

LC

2r

 

Family: Coenagrionidae Kirby, 1890

19

Aciagrion approximans

Fraser, 1921

LC

3a

20

Aciagrion occidentale

Laidlaw, 1919

LC

3b

21

Aciagrion pallidum

Selys, 1891

LC

3c

22

Agriocnemis pieris

Laidlaw, 1919

LC

3d

23

Agriocnemis pygmaea

(Rambur, 1842)

LC

3e

24

Agriocnemis splendidissima

Laidlaw, 1919

LC

3f

25

Amphiallagma parvum

Selys, 1876

LC

3g

26

Ceriagrion cerinorubellum

(Brauer, 1865)

LC

3h

27

Ceriagrion chromothorax#

Joshi & Sawant 2019

NE

3i

28

Ceriagrion coromandelianum

(Fabricius, 1798)

LC

3j

29

Ceriagrion olivaceum

Laidlaw, 1914

LC

3k

30

Ceriagrion rubiae

Laidlaw, 1916

NE

3l

31

Ischnura rubilio

Selys, 1876

LC

3m

32

Ischnura senegalensis

Rambur, 1842

LC

3n

33

Mortonagrion varralli

Fraser, 1920

LC

3o

34

Pseudagrion decorum

Rambur, 1842

LC

3p

35

Pseudagrion indicum#

Fraser, 1924

LC

3q

36

Pseudagrion malabaricum

Fraser, 1924

LC

3r

37

Pseudagrion microcephalum

(Rambur, 1842)

LC

4a

38

Pseudagrion rubriceps

Selys, 1876

LC

4b

 

Suborder Anisoptera Selys, 1854

 

Family: Aeshnidae Leach, 1815

39

Anaciaeschna jaspidea

(Burmeister, 1839)

LC

-

40

Anax ephippiger

(Burmeister, 1839)

LC

4c

41

Anax guttatus

(Burmeister, 1839)

LC

4d

42

Anax immaculifrons

Rambur, 1842

LC

4e

43

Gynacantha dravida

Lieftinck, 1960

LC

4f

44

Gynacantha millardi

Fraser, 1920

LC

4g

 

Family: Gomphidae Rambur, 184

45

Cyclogomphus flavoannulatus*#

Rangnekar et al 2019

NE

4h

46

Gomphidia kodaguensis#

Fraser, 1923

DD

4i

47

Ictinogomphus rapax

(Rambur, 1842)

LC

4j

48

Macrogomphus wynaadicus#

Fraser, 1924

DD

4k

49

Megalogomphus hannyngtoni*#

(Fraser, 1923)

NT

4l

50

Melligomphus acinaces*#

(Laidlaw, 1922)

DD

4m

51

Paragomphus lineatus

(Selys, 1850)

LC

4n

 

Family: Macromiidae Needham, 1903

52

Epophthalmia vittata

Burmeister, 1839

LC

4o

53

Macromia cingulata

Rambur, 1842

LC

4p

 

Family: Libellulidae Leach, 1815

54

Acisoma panorpoides

Rambur, 1842

LC

4q

55

Brachydiplax sobrina

Rambur, 1842

LC

-

56

Brachythemis contaminata

(Fabricius, 1793)

LC

4r

57

Bradinopyga geminata

(Rambur, 1842)

LC

5a

58

Bradinopyga konkanensis

Joshi & Sawant, 2020

NE

5b

59

Cratilla lineata

(Brauer, 1878)

LC

5c

60

Crocothemis servilia

(Drury, 1770)

LC

5d

61

Diplacodes lefebvrii

(Rambur, 1842)

LC

5e

62

Diplacodes trivialis

(Rambur, 1842)

LC

5f

63

Epithemis mariae*#

(Laidlaw, 1915)

LC

5g

64

Hylaeothemis apicalis

Fraser, 1926

DD

5h

65

Indothemis carnatica

Fabricius, 1798

LC

-

66

Lathrecista asiatica

(Fabricius, 1798)

LC

5i

67

Neurothemis fulvia

(Drury, 1773)

LC

5j

68

Neurothemis intermedia

(Rambur, 1842)

LC

5k

69

Neurothemis tullia

(Drury, 1773)

LC

5l

70

Onychothemis testacea

Laidlaw, 1902

LC

5m

71

Orthetrum chrysis

(Selys, 1891)

LC

5n

72

Orthetrum glaucum

(Brauer, 1865)

LC

5o

73

Orthetrum luzonicum

(Brauer, 1868)

LC

5p

74

Orthetrum pruinosum

(Burmeister, 1839)

LC

5q

75

Orthetrum sabina

(Drury, 1770)

LC

5r

76

Orthetrum taeniolatum

(Schneider, 1845)

LC

6a

77

Orthetrum triangulare

(Selys, 1878)

LC

6b

78

Palpopleura sexmaculata

(Fabricius, 1787)

LC

6c

79

Pantala flavescens

(Fabricius, 1798)

LC

6d

80

Potamarcha congener

(Rambur, 1842)

LC

6e

81

Rhodothemis rufa

(Rambur, 1842)

LC

-

82

Tetrathemis platyptera

Selys, 1878

LC

6f

83

Tholymis tillarga

(Fabricius, 1798)

LC

6g

84

Tramea basilaris

(Palisot de Beauvois, 1805)

LC

6h

85

Tramea limbata

(Desjardins, 1832)

LC

6i

86

Trithemis aurora

(Burmeister, 1839)

LC

6j

87

Trithemis festiva

(Rambur, 1842)

LC

6k

88

Trithemis kirbyi

Selys, 1891

LC

6l

89

Trithemis pallidinervis

(Kirby, 1889)

LC

6m

90

Zygonix iris

Selys, 1869

LC

6n

91

Zyxomma petiolatum

Rambur, 1842

LC

6o

 

Genera incertae sedis

92

Idionyx saffronata*#

Fraser, 1924

DD

6p-q

93

Macromidia donaldi#

(Fraser, 1924)

LC

6r

DD—Data Deficient | LC—Least Concern | NE—Not Evaluated | NT—Near Threatened | VU—Vulnerable | *—New records for the Maharashtra State | #—Species endemic to Western Ghats.

 

 

Table 4. List of Odonata species added in the checklist of Maharashtra since 2015.

 

Species

Family

Reference

01

Lestes concinnus Hagen in Selys, 1862

Lestidae

Dow (2017); Anonymous (2021d)

02

Lestes patricia Fraser, 1924

Lestidae

Bhakare et al. (2020)

03

Lestes praemorsus Hagen in Selys, 1862

Lestidae

Mujumdar et al. (2020); Koli et al. (2021)

04

Platylestes platystylus Rambur, 1842

Lestidae

Mujumdar et al. (2020)

05

Protosticta sanguinostigma Fraser, 1922

Platystictidae

Present Study

06

Libellago indica (Fraser, 1928)

Chlorocyphidae

Subramanian et al. (2018); Present Study

07

Euphaea pseudodispar Sadasivan & Bhakare, 2021

Euphaeidae

Bhakare et al. (2021); Present Study

08

Euphaea thosegharensis Sadasivan & Bhakare, 2021

Euphaeidae

Bhakare et al. (2021); Present Study

09

Dysphaea ethela Fraser, 1924

Euphaeidae

Personal observations by Dattaprasad Sawant at Hadpid, Devgad Taluka, Maharashtra.

10

Melanoneura bilineata Fraser, 1922

Platycnemididae

Koli and Dalvi (2021)

11

Aciagrion approximans (Selys, 1876)

Coenagrionidae

Subramanian et al. (2018); Present Study

12

Agriocnemis keralensis Peters, 1981

Coenagrionidae

Koli et al. (2021)

13

Ceriagrion chromothorax Joshi & Sawant 2019

Coenagrionidae

Joshi and Sawant (2019)

14

Ischnura rubilio Selys, 1876

Coenagrionidae

Subramanian et al. (2018); Present Study

15

Gynacantha khasiaca MacLachlan, 1896

Aeshnidae

Mujumdar et al. (2020); Koli et al. (2021)

16

Cyclogomphus flavoannulatus Rangnekar et al 2019

Gomphidae

Present Study

17

Merogomphus longistigma Fraser, 1922

Gomphidae

Payra et al. (2022)

18

Megalogomphus hannyngtoni (Fraser, 1923)

Gomphidae

Present Study

19

Melligomphus acinaces (Laidlaw, 1922)

Gomphidae

Present Study

20

Bradinopyga konkanensis Joshi & Sawant, 2020

Libellulidae

Joshi and Sawant (2019); Present Study

21

Epithemis mariae (Laidlaw, 1915)

Libellulidae

Present Study

22

Hylaeothemis apicalis Fraser, 1926

Libellulidae

Subramanian et al. (2018); Present Study

23

Macrodiplax cora (Brauer, 1867)

Libellulidae

Anonymous (2021e)

24

Idionyx saffronata Fraser, 1924

Genera incertae sedis

Present Study

25

Macromidia donaldi (Fraser, 1924)

Genera incertae sedis

Payra et al. (2022); Present Study.

Payra et al. (2022) enlisted this species in family Synthemistidae. However Kalkman et al. (2020) consider this species to be belonged to Genera incertae sedis.

 

 

Table 5. List of Odonata species omitted from the checklist of Maharashtra due to various reasons.

 

Species

Family

Reason

01

Lestes thoracicus (Laidlaw, 1920)

Lestidae

Dumont et al. (2017) synonymized L. thoracicus with L. concinnus.

02

Lestes umbrinus (Selys, 1891)

Lestidae

Dumont et al. (2017) synonymized L. umbrinus with L. concinnus.

03

Aciagrion hisopa (Selys, 1876)

Coenagrionidae

Joshi et al. (2016) showed that taxon krishna belongs to A. approximans and not to A. hisopa. Hence we include A. approximans in updated checklist

04

Cercion dyeri (Fraser, 1920)

Coenagrionidae

Weeker & Dumont (2004) synonymized C. dyeri with Paracercion calamorum.

05

Ischnura aurora (Brauer, 1865)

Coenagrionidae

Papazian et al. (2007) showed I. a. aurora is found in Australia and I. a. rubilio is found in the Indian Subcontinent and Iran. Kalkman et al. (2020) consider I. rubilio as a complete species.

06

Anax imperator (Leach, 1815)

Aeshnidae

Tiple & Koparde (2015) listed A. imperator from Nashik without any photographic or specimen evidence. However, it is distributed in Africa, Europe and North India. This record needs to be confirmed with either photo or specimen.

07

Anormogomphus heteropterus (Selys, 1854)

Gomphidae

Babu et al. (2009) recorded a female Gomphid from Aurangabad, Maharashtra and identified it as A. heteropterus. However, no male individual has been reported from the state since then. This species occurs in North India with no records from Western Ghats and nearby regions. Hence until the record of male individuals, we omit this species from the checklist of Maharashtra.

08

Asiagomphus nilgiricus (Laidlaw, 1922)

Gomphidae

Sathe & Bhusnar (2010) mentioned A. nilgiricus without any specimen or photographic evidence from Amba Reserve Forest. However, Subramanian et al. (2018) mentioned the distribution in Karnataka and Tamilnadu.

09

Davidioides martini (Fraser, 1924)

Gomphidae

Sathe & Bhusnar (2010) mentioned D. martini without any specimen or photographic evidence from Amba Reserve Forest. However, Subramanian et al. (2018) mentioned the distribution in Kerala only.

10

Cyclogomphus vesiculosus (Selys, 1873)

Gomphidae

Kalkman et al. (2020) synonymized C.vesiculosus with C. ypsilon.

11

Onychogomphus nilgiriensis (Fraser, 1922)

Gomphidae

Koparde et al. (2014) recorded O. nilgiriensis from Parpoli, which is a case of misidentification. The individual shown by Koparde et al. (2014) is actually Melligomphus acinaces.

12

Hylaeothemis indica (Fraser, 1946)

Libellulidae

Kalkman et al. (2020) synonymized H. indica with H. apicalis.

13

Orthetrum anceps (Schneider, 1845)

Libellulidae

Prasad (1996) reported this European species from Maharashtra. This species is very similar to O. glaucum, O. luzonicum and O. taeniolatum, and it cannot be identified without genital examination. Considering the known geographical range of O. anceps given by Boudot et al. (2013), we omit this record from the checklist of Maharashtra.

14

Orthetrum testaceaum (Burmeister, 1839)

Libellulidae

Babu et al. (2009) reported this species from Pune. However, Subramanian et al. (2018) omitted this species from the checklist of Western Ghats. No other records are available from the state.

15

Sympetrum hypomelas (Selys, 1884)

Libellulidae

Kulkarni et al. (2012) mentioned S. hypomelas in the checklist of Maharashtra from Bhimashankar WS. However, Subramanian et al. (2018) mentioned this as a doubtful record. Considering the geographical range given by Subramanian & Dow (2010), we omit this species until any strong evidence is found.

 

 

Table 6. Family-wise distribution of Odonata species.

 

Family

Amboli-Chaukul-Parpoli Region

Maharashtra State (updated)

01

Lestidae

02

06

02

Platystictidae

01

02

03

Calopterygidae

03

03

04

Chlorocyphidae

02

03

05

Euphaeidae

03

04

06

Platycnemididae

06

10

07

Coenagrionidae

20

28

08

Aeshnidae

06

10

09

Gomphidae

07

21

10

Macromiidae

02

06

11

Corduliidae

00

01

12

Libellulidae

38

48

13

Genera incertae sedis

02

02

 

Total

93

144

 

For images - - click here for full PDF

 

 

References

 

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