Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 December 2024 | 16(12): 26240–26250

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

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8366.16.12.26240-26250

#8366 | Received 12 January 2023 | Final received 30 November 2024 | Finally accepted 03 December 2024

A preliminary study of odonate fauna in the high ranges of Munnar, southern Western Ghats, India

T.S. Krishnanunni ¹, Nazar Neha ², R. Arya ^{3 &} P.O. Nameer

^1,2,3,4 College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur, Kerala 680656, India.

¹ tskrishnanunni@gmail.com, ² neh.nazpkm@gmail.com, ³ aryaa.anilr@gmail.com, ⁴ nameer.po@kau.in (corresponding author)

Editor: Ashish D. Tiple, Dr. R.G. Bhoyar Arts, Commerce and Science College, Wardha, India. Date of publication: 26 December 2024 (online & print)

Citation: Krishnanunni, T.S., Nazar Neha, R. Arya & P.O. Nameer (2024). A preliminary study of odonate fauna in the high ranges of Munnar, southern Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(12): 26240–26250. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8366.16.12.26240-26250

Copyright: © Krishnanunni et al. 2024. 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: We would like to express our profound appreciation to the Gol GEF UNDP IHRML Project for its logistical, financial, and technical assistance during the project.

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Author details: Krishnanunni, T.S.—Erasmus Mundus scholar, currently pursuing master of science in European Forestry at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) Vienna, Austria. His research interest is broadened on remote sensing and GIS topics, spatial statistics, qualitative research and forest inventory and modelling, preparing for a career in research or academia. Neha Nazar—master’s student in Forest Ecology and Management at the University of Alberta, Canada, supported by a Graduate Research Assistantship Fellowship. Her research focuses on understanding forest ecosystem dynamics, with a specific interest in coarse woody debris characteristics in post-fire and post-harvest remnants. Arya, R.-—completed her graduation from the College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur, Kerala and post-graduation in Forestry from College of Forestry, KSNUAHS, Shimoga, Karnataka. Nameer P.O.—professor and head of the Department of Wildlife Sciences at Kerala Agricultural University, south India. His basic training is in forest ecology and ornithology. But works extensively on mammals, including bats. His current work includes biodiversity documentation of the Western Ghats, the study of the impact of climate change on the different taxa, citizen science, etc.

Author contributions: TSK—fieldwork, analysis and manuscript preparation. NN—fieldwork and analysis. AR—fieldwork and analysis. PON—principal supervisor throughout the project work and guidance during manuscript preparation.

Acknowledgements: We would like to express our profound appreciation to the GoI GEF UNDP IHRML Project for its logistical, financial, and technical assistance during the project. We thank the then Munnar DFO, Mr. Raju Francis IFS and other officers of the Munnar FD. We thank the dean, College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University for the encouragement and support. We wish to extend our gratitude to the professors in the Department of Wildlife Science, KAU and Abin M. Sunil and Sreehari K. Mohan, the research scholars, for their support.

Abstract: A study was conducted at Munnar Forest Division Idukki District, Kerala, the southern Western Ghats, to assess the diversity of odonates. Around 44 species of odonates, which include 29 species of Anisoptera (dragonflies) and 15 species of Zygoptera (damselflies). The odonate diversity of Munnar Forest Division accounted for 24.72 % of the odonates in Kerala and 22.45 % of the odonates of the Western Ghats. The study highlights the importance of biodiversity documentation at high altitudes in the Western Ghats.

Keywords: Anisoptera, biodiversity, ecosystem, endemic, Idukki District, Kerala, Odonata, pre-monsoon, Zygoptera.

INTRODUCTION

The order Odonata is one of the fascinating groups of winged insects which comprises both dragonflies and damselflies (Grimaldi & Engel 2005). They act as an important top predator at both larval and adult stages and hence form an important tool for various types of assessments and monitoring, such as measures of biodiversity, wetland health, integrity, and the biological impact of climate change. There are over 6,376 odonate species known worldwide (Paulson et al. 2022), 493 in India, 196 in the Western Ghats (Subramanian & Babu 2020), and 178 in Kerala (Chandran et al. 2022; Society for Odonate Studies 2022). The 178 species of odonates of Kerala belong to 87 genera in two suborders and 14 families (Chandran et al. 2022; Society for Odonate Studies 2022), and 68 species are endemic to the Western Ghats.

Studies on odonates of the Western Ghats are far and in between. These include the studies by Mathavan & Miller (1989) who reported 36 species of odonates from Periyar Tiger Reserve, Idukki District, Kerala; 29 species of odonates were recorded from Silent Valley and New Amarambalam Reserved Forests in Kerala by Rao & Lahiri (1982), Emiliyamma & Radhakrishnan (2000), recorded 25 species of odonates from Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary, Palakkad dt. Kerala, Adarsh et al. (2015) recorded 48 species of odonates from Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Idukki District, Kerala and Sadasivan et al. (2022) recorded 116 species of odonates from Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary, Kollam District, Kerala. The present paper summarises the findings of odonates from Munnar Forest Division conducted during the pre-monsoon months: February to May 2022.

Study Area

The Munnar Forest Division is located in the high ranges of the southern Western Ghats. It consists of four ranges, namely Munnar Range, Devikulam Range, Adimaly Range, and Neriamangalam Range with a total area of 892.707 km². The study focused on the hilly regions (>1100 m) of the Munnar Forest Division, which majorly included the Munnar and Devikulam Ranges. The study area is located between 10.067–10.167 ⁰N & 77.083–77.167 ⁰E (Figure 1). The details of the study localities are given in Table 1.

The topography of the study area is hilly with undulating terrain. The altitude varies from 33 m near Palamattom on the bank of the river Periyar in the Neriamangalam Range to Anamudi (2,695 m) in the Munnar Range. The average annual rainfall of the region is about 3,000 mm, and it receives both southwestern and northeastern monsoons. Temperatures range 6–35 °C, and the climate is more or less temperate in high-altitude areas. The air is highly humid throughout the year, and the relative humidity is about 80 % and above (Kerala Forest and Wildlife Department 2011).

The Munnar Forest Division consists of different habitat types, which include, west coast tropical evergreen forest, west coast semi-evergreen forest, southern moist mixed deciduous forest, southern montane wet grasslands, the southern montane wet temperate forest along with tea plantations, eucalyptus plantations, cardamom hill reserves, and wattle plantations (Kerala Forest and Wildlife Department 2011).

METHODS

The study was carried out in the pre-monsoon months from February 2022 to May 2022 at selected high-altitude sites (above 1,100 m) in the Munnar Forest Division. The field was categorized into seven habitats, and three sites were randomly selected from each habitat for surveying (21 sites in total). The habitats include grassland, eucalyptus plantation, shola forest (southern montane wet temperate forest), wattle plantations, pond and riverine ecosystem, Cardamom Hill Reserve (evergreen), and tea plantation. A single field visit was made to each of the three sites in each of the seven habitats between 0900 and 1300 h when odonate activity was at its peak. The belt transect method (Kulkarni et al. 2013) was done to document odonates and a 500 m transect line having a width of 10 m was taken on each site. The transect and the coordinates were taken using a mobile application called ‘Geotracker’ (https://geo-tracker.org/).

Collection and killing were avoided for species identification. Observed odonates were photo-documented using a Nikon COOLPIX P900 and a Nikon D5600 DSLR camera with a 70–300 mm lens. Most of the species were identified on the spot by close observation and later confirmed using taxonomic monographs of Fraser (1933, 1934, 1936) and field guides (Subramanian 2009; Kiran & Raju 2013). The taxonomy and nomenclature that have been used are as per Kalkman et al. (2020). The odonates observed during the study period were categorized into five groups based on their relative abundance. Accordingly, those species which were sighted 80–100 % of the survey days were categorized as very common (VC), 60–79 % as common (C), 40–59 % as occasional (O), 20–39 % as rare (R), and very rare (VR) for those that were sighted less than 20% of the field days. The species richness and abundance were recorded and Simpson & Shannon diversity indices and evenness values were also calculated using PAST software.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The study has encompassed 44 species of odonates, which include 29 species of Anisoptera (Dragonflies) and 15 species of Zygoptera (Damselflies) spread across eight families (Table 2). The family Libellulidae was the most dominant in Anisoptera with 24 species, followed by Aeshnidae (3), Macromiidae (1), and Gomphidae (1). Among Zygoptera, Coenagrionidae (9) was the dominant family, followed by Lestidae (3), Platycnemididae (2), and Chlorocyphidae (1). Family-wise species richness of odonates (both Anisoptera and Zygoptera) along with their relative abundance is given in Figure 2.

The distribution of odonates in the study area was classified into seven different habitat types. Habitat-wise distribution and species diversity of odonates in the Munnar Forest Division are given in Table 3. Maximum species richness was observed in the pond and riverine ecosystem (26 species), followed by eucalyptus plantation (17 species), Cardamom Hill Reserve (11 species), wattle infested areas (8), grassland (6 species), shola forest (6 species), and tea plantation (5). The species abundance was maximum in the pond and riverine ecosystem and minimum in the shola forest.

The Simpson & Shannon diversity indices and evenness values of the seven habitats were calculated (Table 4). In this study, the value of the Gini Simpson’s index ranged 0.794–0.932 in different habitats. The Simpson index showed the maximum value for the pond and riverine ecosystem (0.932) and the minimum value for grassland (0.794). Hence, species diversity is high in pond and riverine ecosystem habitats. The value of the Shannon Weiner index for different habitats range 1.47–2.87, with the maximum value shown by pond and riverine ecosystem and the minimum by tea plantation. As a result, pond and riverine ecosystems have the highest species richness and evenness.

Out of the 44 species recorded, four of the odonate species are endemic, two to the Western Ghats, one to peninsular India, and one to India. Esme cyaneovittata and Esme mudiensis are endemic to the Western Ghats, Heliocypha bisignata is endemic to peninsular India and Hylaeothemis apicalis is endemic to India. There are 196 species of odonates in the Western Ghats and 178 species of odonates in Kerala. Considering the total number of species of Odonates in Kerala, the present study accounted for 24.72 % of the odonates in Kerala and 22.45 % of the odonates of the Western Ghats. None of the odonate species from the region is protected under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) of 1972. According to the IUCN Red List 2022, one species is staged under the ‘Not Evaluated’ category, four species under the ‘Data Deficient’ category, and the remaining 39 species are staged under the ‘Least Concern’ category, which implies that none of the species from the present study is listed as a threatened species.

Due to their amphibious life history, relatively short generation time, high trophic position, and diversity, the order Odonata is considered an important component of freshwater ecosystems as well as a good indicator of ecosystem health (Corbet 1993). This reiterates the fact that more systematic exploration of biodiversity should be carried out in unexplored regions of the Western Ghats, especially in light of increasing anthropogenic influences and habitat transformations. The present study highlights the existing diversity of unexplored odonate fauna in the high ranges of the Munnar Territorial Division. Major changes in the degradation quality of available habitats could also result in a loss of regional odonate diversity, especially for endemic species. These changes could also have a cascading effect on terrestrial biodiversity.

A previous study on odonates from Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary (Adarsh et al. 2015), a component of Munnar Wildlife Division, has recorded a total of 48 species of odonates, which includes 31 species of dragonflies and 17 species of damselflies. The present study has recorded 14 new records of odonates, which include nine species of dragonflies and five species of damselflies.

The study also highlights the sighting of Martin’s Duskhawker Anaciaeschna martini (Selys 1897) from wattle-infested areas of Idalimotta (above 2000m), which was previously recorded as a rediscovery from Nilgiris in September 2014 and later from the Munnar region in the Anamalais landscape of the Western Ghats in June 2019 (Sadasivan et al. 2021). The observed individual was a female ovipositing on emergent vegetation and no males were observed guarding or nearby the female. The species was identified by the typical female morphological characteristics of a brownish body with yellowish-green markings on the thorax and a brownish-yellow abdomen, as well as a dark band along the leading edge of the wings. Disturbed habitats such as wattle-infested areas may provide suitable breeding sites and hunting grounds for species like Martin’s Duskhawker, which may explain the presence of this locally ‘not common’ species.

Even though there have been frequent surveys and few published papers (Adarsh et al. 2015; Sadasivan et al. 2021) in the wildlife division of Munnar, currently there are no published papers in Munnar territorial division as far as odonates are concerned. Under the circumstance that no previous research papers have been published under the Munnar territorial division, the present study comes into the light, providing far-reaching information regarding the diversity, distribution, and habitat preference of the recorded odonate species during the pre-monsoon period. The short-term study also acts as a preliminary report on odonates and forms a trail for further studies during the monsoon and post-monsoon months, where a peak in species richness can be expected due to the southwest monsoon.

Table 1. Details of the study localities at Munnar Forest Division.

	Habitat	Coordinates	Altitude (m)	Weather	Temperature (°C)	Humidity (%)
1	Grassland a) Chokramudi 1 b) Old Devikulam 2 c) Chokramudi 2	10.028 ^0N & 77.102 ^0E 10.173 ^0N & 77.179 ^0E 10.036 ^0N & 77.123 ^0E	1,736 1,788 1,736	Sunny Sunny Sunny	25 23 25	48 47 48
2	Eucalyptus plantation a) Devikulam b) KFRI Research Station c) Signal Point	10.067 ^0N & 77.098 ^0E 10.072 ^0N & 77.100 ^0E 10.071 ^0N & 77.095 ^0E	1,615 1,594 1,522	Cloudy Partly Cloudy Sunny	24 22 24	68 63 47
3	Shola forest a) Aranmanai Shola b) Old Devikulam Shola c) Idalimotta Shola	10.061 ^0N & 77.140 ^0E 10.052 ^0N & 77.163 ^0E 10.172 ^0N & 77.183 ^0E	1,676 1,801 2,239	Sunny Sunny Cloudy	22 23 19	51 47 68
4	Wattle infested area a) Idalimotta 1 b) Idalimotta 2 c) Idalimotta 3	10.173 ^0N & 77.188 ^0E 10.171 ^0N & 77.177 ^0E 10.171 ^0N & 77.171 ^0E	2,190 2,372 2,387	Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy	17 17 17	95 95 95
5	Pond and riverine ecosystem a) Erachilppara b) Seethadevi Lake c) Njandarmettu (CHR)	10.066 ^0N & 77.099 ^0E 10.045 ^0N & 77.155 ^0E 9.965 ^0N & 77.261 ^0E	1,615 1,762 1,143	Partly cloudy Sunny Cloudy	21 24 22	72 42 81
6	Cardamom Hill Reserve a)Thalakkulam b)Njandarmettu c)Sankarapandyanmettu	9.985 ^0N & 77.220 ^0E 9.985 ^0N & 77.221 ^0E 10.008 ^0N & 77.199 ^0E	1,254 1,143 1,249	Cloudy Cloudy Cloudy	22 24 23	81 75 75
7	Tea plantation a) Signal Point (KDHP) b) Lockhart (HNM Tea estate) c) Madupatty Tea estate	10.078 ^0N & 77.091 ^0E 10.036 ^0N & 77.122 ^0E 10.069 ^0N & 77.096 ^0E	1,537 1,518 1,630	Partly Cloudy Sunny Cloudy	23 22 24	63 66 68

Table 2. Checklist of odonates recorded from the study habitats of Munnar Forest Division, Idukki, Kerala, southern Western Ghats.

	Family/Scientific name	Endemicity	IUCN status	Abundance	Study habitats
A.	Zygoptera (Damselflies)
	Coenagrionidae
1	Aciagrion approximans krishna Fraser, 1921		LC	R	P, C
2	Aciagrion occidentale Laidlaw, 1919		LC	O	E, P, C
3	Agriocnemis pieris Laidlaw, 1919		LC	R	E, W
4	Agriocnemis pygmaea (Rambur, 1842)		LC	VR	P
5	Ceriagrion coromandelianum (Fabricius, 1798)		LC	VR	P
6	Ischnura rubilio Selys, 1876		NE	VR	P
7	Ischnura senegalensis (Rambur, 1842)		LC	R	G, P
8	Pseudagrion microcephalum (Rambur, 1842)		LC	VR	P
9	Pseudagrion rubriceps Selys, 1876		LC	VR	P
	Platycnemididae
10	Esme cyaneovittata Fraser, 1922	EN WG	DD	VR	S
11	Esme mudiensis Fraser, 1931	EN WG	DD	VR	S
	Chlorocyphidae
12	Heliocypha bisignata (Hagen in Selys, 1853)	EN P	LC	VR	S
	Lestidae
13	Indolestes gracilis davenporti (Fraser, 1930)		LC	VC	G, E, W, P, C, T
14	Lestes dorothea Fraser, 1924		LC	VR	P
15	Lestes elatus Hagen in Selys, 1862		LC	VR	P
B.	Anisoptera (Dragonflies)
	Aeshnidae
16	Anaciaeschna martini (Selys, 1897)		LC	VR	P
17	Anax immaculifrons Rambur, 1842		LC	VR	P
18	Gynacantha dravida Lieftinck, 1960		DD	VR	E
	Libellulidae
19	Acisoma panorpoides Rambur, 1842		LC	R	E, T
20	Brachydiplax chalybea Brauer, 1868		LC	VR	P
21	Brachydiplax sobrina (Rambur, 1842)		LC	O	E, S, W, P
22	Brachythemis contaminata (Fabricius, 1793)		LC	R	E, P
23	Bradinopyga geminata (Rambur, 1842)		LC	O	G, E, T
24	Crocothemis servilia (Drury, 1770)		LC	O	G, E, W, C
25	Diplacodes trivialis (Rambur, 1842)		LC	O	E, W, T
26	Hylaeothemis apicalis Fraser, 1924	EN I	DD	R	P, C
27	Orthetrum chrysis (Selys, 1892)		LC	O	E, W, P, C
28	Orthetrum glaucum (Brauer, 1865)		LC	VR	C
29	Orthetrum luzonicum (Brauer,1868)		LC	R	G, C
30	Orthetrum pruinosum (Burmeister, 1839)		LC	O	E, P, T
31	Orthetrum sabina (Drury, 1770)		LC	VR	P
32	Orthetrum triangulare (Selys, 1878)		LC	R	W, C
33	Palpopleura sexmaculata (Fabricius, 1787)		LC	VR	E
34	Pantala flavescens (Fabricius, 1798)		LC	R	G, W
35	Rhodothemis rufa (Rambur, 1842)		LC	VR	P
36	Sympetrum fonscolombii (Selys, 1840)		LC	VR	S
37	Tetrathemis platyptera Selys, 1878		LC	O	E, P, C
38	Tramea limbata (Rambur, 1842)		LC	VR	P
39	Trithemis aurora (Burmeister, 1839)		LC	VR	E
40	Trithemis festiva (Rambur, 1842)		LC	VR	E
41	Urothemis signata (Rambur, 1842)		LC	VR	P
42	Zyxomma petiolatum Rambur, 184		LC	R	E, P
	Macromiidae
43	Epophthalmia vittata Burmeister, 1839		LC	VR	C
	Gomphidae
44	Ictinogomphus rapax (Rambur,1842)		LC	R	S, P

Legend: EN W—Endemic to Western Ghats | EN P—Endemic to Peninsular India | EN I—Endemic to India.

LC—Least Concern | DD—Data Deficient | NE—Not Evaluated.

G—Grassland | E—Eucalyptus Plantation | S—Shola Forest | W—Wattle Plantation | P—Pond and Riverine Ecosystem | C—Cardamom Hill Reserve | T—Tea Plantation.

Table 3. Habitat-wise distribution of odonates at Munnar Forest Division.

Habitat	Aeshnidae	Chlorocyphidae	Coenagrionidae	Gomphidae	Lestidae	Libellulidae	Macromiidae	Platycnemididae
Grassland	0	0	2	0	7	8	0	0
Eucalyptus Plantation	1	0	6	0	7	23	0	0
Shola Forest	0	2	0	1	0	2	0	3
Wattle Plantation	0	0	2	0	5	9	0	0
Pond and Riverine Ecosystem	2	0	25	1	17	25	0	0
Cardamom Hill Reserve	0	0	7	0	4	15	1	0
Tea Plantation	0	0	0	0	4	7	0	0

Table 4. Species richness and diversity of odonates in high ranges of Munnar Forest division.

Habitats	Grassland	Eucalyptus plantation	Shola forest	Wattle plantation	Pond and riverine Ecosystem	Cardamom Hill Reserve	Tea plantation
Species richness	6	17	6	8	26	11	5
Abundance	17	37	8	16	70	27	11
Species relative abundance	0.14	0.39	0.14	0.18	0.59	0.25	0.11
Shannon's diversity index (H')	1.56	2.53	1.73	1.89	2.87	2.07	1.47
Simpson's diversity index (D)	0.21	0.08	0.07	0.12	0.07	0.131	0.182
Inverse Simpson's diversity index (1/D)	4.86	12.81	14.00	8.00	14.64	7.63	5.50
Gini Simpson's index (1-D)	0.79	0.92	0.93	0.88	0.93	0.87	0.82

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