A brief look at the Odonata from the Páramo ecosystems in Colombia, with the descriptions of Oxyallagma colombianum sp. nov. and Rhionaeschna caligo sp. nov. (Odonata: Coenagrionidae, Aeshnidae, Libellulidae)
Author
Bota, Cornelio Andrés
text
Zootaxa
2014
3856
2
192
210
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.3856.2.2
24c01b66-c0d2-458b-a7fe-0e3de779a8e8
1175-5326
250932
ABC0E7D7-2E22-4605-A97B-0F1E632F3930
Rhionaeschna caligo
sp. nov.
Figs. 1
a (Habitus ♂), 1c (Frontal ♂), 2b
–
e (Diagnostic traits), Table 1 (coordinates).
Etymology.
From Latin
caligo
meaning fog, to be treated as a noun in apposition. The name refers to this species’ habit of flying even on cold and foggy days.
Type
material
(
8 ♂
)
Colombia
: Antioquia:
Páramo
El Morro:
2 ♂
,
15
–
17.vi.2012
, Leg: C. Bota, C. Moreno, J. Del Río, J. Caly & M. Moreno.
Páramo
Sabanas:
2 ♂
:
3.x.2011
, Leg: C. Bota & J. D. Castaño.
Páramo
El Congo
:
4 ♂
,
10
–
14.ix.2011
, Leg: L. Ríos & J. Zapata.
Description.
Holotype
:
Head
:
Labium brown. Labrum light blue, with lateral margins yellow, and ventral and dorsal margin dark brown. Clypeus light blue, with lateral margins yellow. Frons yellow, light blue spots lateral to yellow area surrounding T-spot stem; T-spot stem narrower than vertex, approximately parallel sided, transverse arms about as wide as stem; vertex black with green spot at anterior margin on each side; brown stripe on frontoclypeal groove not widened to fronto
-
ocular groove (
Fig. 1
b).
Thorax
: Brown with pale pterothoracic stripes yellowish green, with indentations as in
Fig. 1
a; legs black except for trochanters, coxae, and basal 75% of femora reddish brown, and basal 50% of inner surface of femur I yellowish green. Wings smoky, darker at base and along costa; membranule dark except basal 50% pale; Pt whitish on ventral side and brown on dorsal side. Ax in FW: 19 right, 20 left; HW: 13 right, 12 left; Px in FW: 12 right, 13 left; HW: 15; HW with two rows of cells between
RP
1 and
RP
2 beginning under pterostigma.
Abdomen
: brown with sterna of S9
–
10 posterior to genital opercula brown, and yellowish green and light blue spots as in
Fig. 1
a. Outer margin of ventral terga VII linear. Ventral tubercle of S1 rounded in lateral view, genital lobe lower than 30% of its length; anterior lamina spine as long as about two times its basal width (
Fig. 2
f); ventral portion of hamuli shorter than hamular fold (
Fig. 2
b), tip of hamular anterior process pointed (
Fig. 2
b); two teeth on left auricle, two large and a third smaller and more external tooth on right auricle; genital lobe subtriangular, about as high as S1 tubercle. Vesica spermalis distal segment with basal folds in lateral and dorsal lobes as depicted in
Fig. 2
d. Dorso
-
distal crest of male cercus smoothly convex, tip blunt (
Fig. 2
c). Total length
62 mm
. Abdomen length
45 mm
. FW
45 mm
. HW length
43 mm
.
Variation in
paratypes
: Ax in FW 18
–
22, in Hw 11
–
13. Px in FW 11
–
15, in HW 13
–
17. Total length
62
–
65 mm
. Abdomen length
45
–
47 mm
. FW
44
–
46 mm
. HW length
41
–
44 mm
.
Diagnosis.
This species fits within the
Rhionaeschna punctata
group proposed by von
Ellenrieder (2003: 107)
, and within this group it resembles
R. demarmelsi
because of the blunt tips of cercus (
Fig. 2
c) and ventral portion of hamuli shorter than hamular fold (
Fig. 2
b), but it clearly differs from
R. demarmelsi
by its anterior lamina spine being about twice as long as its basal width (
Fig. 2
e) rather than shorter than 1.5 times its basal width as in
R. demarmelsi
. Couplet 4 of Key M
–
4 for males of the
Rhionaeschna punctata
group in von
Ellenrieder (2003: 76)
can be modified as follows to accommodate this new species:
4. Dorso
–
distal crest of cercus smoothly convex in lateral view (fig. 393b); ventral portion of hamuli (A) shorter than hamular fold (B) (fig. 311a)................................................................................... 5
– Dorso
–
distal crest of cercus angulate in lateral view (figs. 390
–
392b); ventral portion of hamuli (A) longer than hamular fold (B) (figs. 310, 312
–
313)............................................................................... 6
5. Anterior lamina spine as long as 30% of its basal width (fig. 353
–
354); Táchira State in
Venezuela
(fig. 458)...
demarmelsi
– Anterior lamina spine as long as 2 times its basal width; Belmira
Páramo
Complex in Antioquia Dep.,
Colombia
....
caligo
Female and larva unknown.
Distribution.
Belmira
Páramo
complex, Antioquia,
Colombia
.
Biology.
Male behavior is similar to that described for
R. marchali
.