Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 May 2023 | 15(5): 23227–23232
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8399.15.5.23227-23232
#8399 | Received 09 February 2023 | Final
received 26 April 2023 | Finally accepted 05 May 2023
Three new records of odonates (Insecta: Odonata) from Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra,
India
Akshay Dalvi 1,
Yogesh Koli 2 & Rahul Thakur 3
1 Br. Nath Pai Junior College, Kudal,
Sindhudurg, Maharashtra 416520, India.
2 Department of
Zoology, Sant Rawool Maharaj College Kudal, Sindhudurg, Maharashtra 416520, India.
3 At post Medhe, Bambarde, Dodamarg, Sindhudurg, Maharashtra 416549, India.
1 asdalvi25@gmail.com, 2
dryjkoli@gmail.com (corresponding author), 3 thakurrahul0103@gmail.com
Editor: Ashish D. Tiple, Dr.
R.G. Bhoyar ACS College, Seloo,
Wardha, Maharashtra, India. Date
of publication: 26 May 2023 (online & print)
Citation: Dalvi, A. , Y. Koli &
R. Thakur (2023).
Three new records of odonates (Insecta:
Odonata) from Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 15(5): 23227–23232. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8399.15.5.23227-23232
Copyright: © Dalvi et al. 2023. 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: Self-funded.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Author details: Akshay Dalvi (AD) - assistant
teacher at Br. Nath Pai Junior College, Kudal. He is a founder
member of My Way Journey Organization, exclusively working in the field of biodiversity studies for the last six years. He is documenting Odonata diversity of the Konkan region, and reported five new records from Maharashtra with Dr. Yogesh Koli. Dr. Yogesh Koli (YK) - assistant
professor, Department of Zoology, Sant Rawool Maharaj Mahavidyalaya, Kudal. He is a president of My Way Journey Organization, and has carried out his research in the field of entomology and published his work in national and international peer reviewed journals. He is currently working on biodiversity studies and conservation issues in Sindhudurg District. He has published one book entitled ‘Birdlife of Sindhudurg’ in 2018. Rahul Thakur
(RT)- He is a graduate student, working as a nature guide with a keen interest in observing insects, birds and mammals. He is highly motivated in conserving and protecting the Myristica swamp, the only freshwater swamp in Maharashtra, which is located in Dodamarg Taluka, Sindhudurg District.
Author contributions: AD wrote the manuscript and collected data in the field by surveying odonates at three different locations. YK photographed Macrodiplax cora from one of the localities. RT assisted AD during the collection of Dysphaea ethela and helped in collecting the data during field work.
Acknowledgements: We are thankful to Dr.
Dattaprasad Sawant for his valuable help in revising
the manuscript. We are also grateful to Mr. Gurunath
Kadam, Mr. Pravin Sawant, Mr. Tejas Sawant, Miss.
Mayuri Chavan, and Mr. Faiyaz Talikot
for their kind help during field work.
Abstract: Genus Indolestes Fraser, 1922 and Dysphaea Selys,
1853 were previously known from Goa, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, parts of
Gujarat, and eastern India. In this paper, we report the first confirmed
records of Indolestes gracilis
davenporti Fraser, 1930 and Dysphaea
ethela Fraser, 1924 based on a specimen collected
from Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra, India. We have also provided additional
records of Macrodiplax cora
(Brauer, 1867) from Maharashtra based on
photographic evidence from Sindhudurg District.
Keywords: Damselfly, Dysphaea, Euphaeidae, Indolestes, Lestidae Macrodiplax, Western Ghats.
Introduction
The
Sindhudurg District of Maharashtra is well-known for numerous new discoveries
of faunal species as a result of extensive surveys carried out by researchers
across the country (Biju & Bossuyt 2009; Mirza et
al. 2014; Padhye 2014; Gower et al. 2016; Pati et al. 2016; Sayyed et al. 2016; Joshi & Sawant
2019, 2020; Praveenraj & Thackeray 2020; Sulakhe et al. 2020; Sayyed & Sulakhe
2020; Bhosale et al. 2021; Joshi et al. 2022). The district harbours
mixed types of vegetation including moist deciduous, dry deciduous, and
semi-evergreen forests (Kulkarni 1988; Sawant et al. 2023). It also has a
diverse range of habitats, including grassland, open lateritic plateaus,
wetlands, mangroves, and freshwater swamps (Satose et
al. 2018; Sreedharan & Indulkar
2018). Recent documentation of Odonata diversity of the Sindhudurg District
resulted in more than 90 species of odonates
documented from Amboli & Chaukul
village, recognised as one of the most biodiverse
regions of Maharashtra State (Tiple & Koparde 2015; Sawant et al. 2022, 2023). Ten out of them
resulted in the new records to the state of Maharashtra. Koli
& Dalvi (2021), Koli et al. (2021), and Dalvi
& Koli (2022) reported a total of five Odonata
species from Sindhudurg District, all of which are first confirmatory records
to the state of Maharashtra. In this paper, we report three new records of odonates from Maharashtra, India, and their distribution
maps are provided.
Material and Methods
We
surveyed Amboli-Chaukul and Dodamarg
region of Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra from May 2022 to December 2022. One
of the records is based on previous surveys conducted outside of this study
area in the year 2020. The details including study localities are provided in
Table 1. Specimens were photographed and collected from non-protected areas for
identification purpose. All the specimens are deposited at the Zoological
Survey of India (ZSI), Pune, Maharashtra, India (Table 1). All field
photographs were taken with Canon 760D DSLR camera 100 mm F/2.8 macro lens
& Nikon D5300 70–300 mm f/4.5–6.3G. Specimens were Identified with the help
of Fraser (1933, 1934, 1936) Kosterin (2015), and
Subramanian et al. (2018).
Abbreviations
used in the text: S1–S10 = abdominal segments 1–10.
Morphological
terms are referring to Garrison et al. (2010). Distribution maps are based on
the data given by Subramanian et al. (2018) and Anonymous (2023a,b,c). Maps are
created using QGIS v3.10.2.
Results and Discussion
1. Indolestes
gracilis davenporti
Fraser, 1930
Akshay
Dalvi & Yogesh Koli first observed I. gracilis davenporti at Bordhangarwadi stream (15.86528N, 74.09833E) on 15th
May 2022 (Table 1, Image 4b). One male specimen was found perching on a tree
branch at about two feet above the ground. Despite multiple visits to the same
locality, only one male specimen was observed at this site. It is a medium
sized damselfly, brown in its immature form and turns pale blue later. Male can
be identified with two triangular spots on posterior lobe of prothorax, pterothorax with brownish black antihumeral
stripes, wavy in its lower side, S9 is black whereas S10 is completely blue
(Image 1a, b). In dorsal view, cerci are slightly rounded in shape, directed
inwards and meet at the apices with protruding end, twice as long as S10 with
robust spines on its outer border (Image 1c). Paraprocts
short, broader at the base with blunt apices. Genus Indolestes
Fraser, 1922 globally includes 36 species (Paulson et al. 2022). I.
indicus Fraser, 1922, I. assamicus Fraser,
1930, and I. cyaneus (Selys, 1862) are endemic to India, found in northern
Eastern Ghats. I. gracilis (Hagen in Selys, 1862) consists of two subspecies, mainly I. gracilis gracilis (Hagen in Selys, 1862) which is endemic to Sri Lanka whereas I.
gracilis davenporti
along with I. pulcherrimus Fraser, 1924
are endemic to the Western Ghats (Subramanian et al. 2018; Kalkman
et al. 2020; Anonymous 2023a). Previous records of I. gracilis
davenporti are confined to Kerala, Karnataka, and
Tamil Nadu states (Image 5b). Here we report first confirmed record of this
species to Maharashtra, India (Image 5a,b).
2.
Dysphaea ethela Fraser,
1924
Akshay
Dalvi first observed and photographed this species at Bambarde
(15.91917 N, 74.12139 E) on 22 May 2022 (Table 1, Image 2). Two male specimens
were observed along the side of a hill stream perching on a small shrub Homonia repira,
locally known as ‘Sherni’ (Image 4a). Dysphaea ethela is
the only species of the genus found in the Western Ghats Biodiversity Hotspot,
which can be easily identified by its entire black colouration,
transparent wings, and yellow stripes on the body (Image 2a). Cerci are deeply
concave inside, widely separated at base, apices flattened inside and meet to
an end; paraprocts very short, not visible dorsally
(Image 2b,c). The genus Dysphaea Selys, 1853, constitutes a total of nine species
distributed in Asia. Out of these, D. gloriosa Fraser, 1938 and D. walli Fraser, 1927 are found in northeastern and
eastern India respectively whereas D. ethela
is a widely spread species found in the Eastern and Western Ghats as
well as in central India (Subramanian 2014; Subramanian & Babu 2017). However, Kalkman
(2020) excluded D. walli from Indian Odonata
checklist because current records are only based on photographic evidence and
there are no voucher specimens available to confirm its validity. Within
Western Ghats, Dysphaea ethela
were earlier recorded from Goa, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, parts of Gujarat
state (Anonymous 2023b) (Image 5c). Here we provide first confirmed record of
this species to Maharashtra State, India (Image 5a,c).
3.
Macrodiplax cora (Brauer, 1867)
Akshay
Dalvi first observed and photographed female of this species on Chipi plateau (15.999533N, 73.526062E) on 5 January 2020
(Image 3b). Successively, Yogesh Koli observed and
photographed male specimen perching on a wooden stick particularly in an
obelisk position near Oros budruk
dam (16.127627N, 73.72221E) on 30 February 2020 (Image 3a). It is a red coloured dragonfly (Golden yellow in its immature stage)
and can be easily identified by dumbbell shaped markings on dorsal side of
S1–S10. Genus Macrodiplax Brauer, 1868 constitutes only one species within Indian
limits. Within India, this species has been reported from Kerala, Odisha, Tamil
Nadu, and West Bengal (Subramanian et al. 2018) (Image 5d). Sawant et al.
(2022) added M. cora into the checklist of
Maharashtra based on photographic evidence available at ‘Odonata of India’
(Joshi et al. 2017). Here we provide some additional records of this species to
the Maharashtra State based on photographic evidence from Oros
dam and Chipi plateau, Sindhudurg District (Image
5a).
This
paper fills the gap of the disjunct distribution of the genus Dysphaea into the northern and central
Western Ghats. Sawant et al. (2022) provided an annotated checklist of 93
Odonata species from Amboli-Chaukul and Parpoli region with the addition of total six species to
the state of Maharashtra. In that, apart from these six species, Dattaprasad Sawant has mentioned the record of D. ethela from Hadpid, Devgad Taluka based on his personal observations (Image
5a). Here we provide the first confirmed record of this species to the state of
Maharashtra based on a specimen collected from Bambarde
Village. Hence the updated Odonata checklist of Maharashtra has 153 species
from 13 families.
Perennial
mountain streams originating in the Chandigarh Taluka, Kolhapur District, flows
through the Bambarde Village, Dodamarg
Taluka, Sindhudurg District and meets Tilari River
later. All these are potential breeding places for the D. ethela. Habitat of I. gracilis
davenporti is a small seasonal mountain stream
which almost dries up after the monsoon. Both of these areas are quite
inaccessible to some extent but can be surveyed extensively in future to
document the species diversity in these regions. However, increasing pressure
of human activities and habitat loss are already affecting the species
diversity in Amboli-Dodamarg region. Hence, constant
awareness among local people, and scientific studies are needed in order to
formulate conservation plans in the near future.
Table 1. Details of
survey locations and deposition codes.
|
|
Species Name |
Location |
Latitude &
Longitude |
Specimen deposited
at ZSI, Pune |
Altitude (in meter) |
|
01 |
Indolestes gracilis davenporti (male) |
Kegad (Bordhangarwadi) |
15.8652N &
74.0983E |
ZSI, WRC, Ent.
4/2990 |
784 |
|
02 |
Dyspha ethela (male) |
Bambarde |
15.9191N &
74.1213E |
ZSI, WRC, Ent.
4/2991 |
89 |
For images
- - click here for full PDF
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