Distribution, habitats, phenology and conservation of New Caledonian Odonata
Author
Grand, Daniel
Author
Marinov, Milen
Author
Jourdan, Herve
Author
Cook, Carl
Author
Rouys, Sophie
Author
Mille, Christian
Author
Theuerkauf, Jörn
text
Zootaxa
2019
2019-07-19
4640
1
1
112
journal article
26165
10.11646/zootaxa.4640.1
1c74afbc-0c31-4b2b-b975-af79979613ab
1175-5326
3342242
434B2D49-EC2C-4246-8703-42C6CFD31B87
Gynacantha rosenbergi
Kaup in
Brauer, 1867
(
Fig. 50
)
Gynacantha rosenbergi
Kaup in
Brauer, 1867: 295
;
Gynacantha bonguensis
Foerster, 1898
;
Acanthagyna rosenbergi
Kimmins, 1953
;
Acanthagyna dobsoni
Fraser, 1951
.
Distribution
(
Fig. 51
). This species is known from
Indonesia
,
Papua New Guinea
, the North-East of
Australia
and
Fiji
,
Vanuatu
and the
Solomon islands
(
Tsuda 2000
). We observed it in La Foa and in Nouméa, where it was formerly recorded by
Kimmins (1953)
. This species is rarely encountered despite
Davies (2002)
describing it as “widely spread, even abundant in
New Caledonia
”. One specimen collected in
October
2004
in La Foa (Nily) is held in the
CXMNC
collection.
Habitat.
Theischinger & Hawking (2006)
wrote: “probably inhabits still waters”.
Biology and behaviour.
Gynacantha rosenbergi
has crepuscular habits, especially when foraging. It visits all habitats, including towns where individuals are attracted to artificial light. According to
Theischinger & Hawking (2006)
, its larva is unknown.
Status.
Because there is insufficient information on the status of
G. rosenbergi
in
New Caledonia
, we rank it as DD. We assigned all records to
G. rosenbergi
by supposition because so far this is the only representative of the genus known to be present in the country. However, Pacific
Gynacantha
are poorely studied and there is a possibility that some of the previous records of
G. rosenbergi
need to be transferred to another species.