Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2021 | 13(8): 19173–19176

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

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6484.13.8.19173-19176

#6484 | Received 29 July 2020 | Final received 21 June 2021 | Finally accepted 28 July 2021

Report of Bradinopyga konkanensis Joshi & Sawant, 2020 (Insecta: Odonata) from Kerala, India

Muhammed Haneef ¹, B. Raju Stiven Crasta ² & A. Vivek Chandran ³

¹ Department of Botany, Government Brennen College, Thalassery, Kannur, Kerala 670106, India.

² Holy Family Aided Senior Basic School, Kumbla post, Kasaragod, Kerala 671321, India.

³ Department of Geology and Environmental Science, Christ College, Irinjalakuda, Thrissur, Kerala 680125, India.

¹ haneefmangad@gmail.com, ² rajukidoor@gmail.com, ³ avivekchandran2@gmail.com (corresponding author)

Editor: Raymond J. Andrew, Hislop College, Nagpur, India. Date of publication: 26 July 2021 (online & print)

Citation: Haneef, M., B.R.S. Crasta & A.V. Chandran (2021). Report of Bradinopyga konkanensis Joshi & Sawant, 2020 (Insecta: Odonata) from Kerala, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(8): 19173–19176. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.6484.13.8.19173-19176

Copyright: © Haneef et al. 2021. 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: None.

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Acknowledgements: We thank the Society for Odonate Studies (SOS), Kerala for encouraging us to undertake field studies on odonates. The first author would like to thank Dr. V.S. Anilkumar, head of the Department, Botany, Government College, Kasaragod for permitting to use laboratory equipment for the study.

Bradinopyga konkanensis Joshi & Sawant, 2020 is a newly described species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae reported from the western region of Peninsular India. It is the fourth species described in the genus Bradinopyga Kirby, 1893 (Schorr & Paulson 2020) and is believed to be a Western Ghats endemic associated with lateritic coastal habitats. It was described based on specimens from three localities in Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri, and Thane districts of Maharashtra, India. All additional records are from coastal areas of Maharashtra. The authors had predicted its occurrence in other coastal areas of the Western Ghats, especially in the Konkan region of Goa and Karnataka (Joshi & Sawant 2020). We report this species from Kidoor village, Kasaragod district, Kerala, India.

Kidoor is a village under Kumbla grama panchayat, Kasaragod district in northern Kerala, southern India (Figure 1). It has lateritic formations near the coast, paddy fields and patches of forest adjoining human habitations. The lateritic region has many natural ponds which attract odonates (Image 1). The common species encountered here are Brachydiplax sobrina, Crocothemis servilia, Indothemis carnatica, Orthetrum sabina, Agriocnemis pygmaea, Ceriagrion rubiae, and Ischnura rubilio. On 18 July 2020, BRSC photographed a dragonfly that resembled Bradinopyga geminata, but with distinct brown colouration at the bases of hindwings (Image 2). On 20 July 2020, additional field photographs were taken from Kidoor and a specimen was collected. The specimen was studied under a stereo microscope (Olympus SZ61 with MAGCAM DC-5 CMOS 5 MP camera) and deposited in the collections of the Department of Zoology, Government Brennen College, Thalassery. All field photographs were taken using a Canon 600 D camera with 55–250 lens. Taxonomic terminology follows Garrison et al. (2006).

Material examined: GBCT.ENT.O23, 1 male, Kidoor (12.633°N, 74.981°E, 32m), 20.v.2020, coll. Muhammed Haneef.

Description: Abdomen: 27 mm, hindwing: 33 mm. Face mostly black, eyes dark greyish-brown, median ocellus dark brown, vertex elevated, ending in a pair of pointed tubercles (Image 3). Prothorax and thorax dark blue and pruinosed, covered with fine brown hair. Wings hyaline with the bases tinted brown as follows: In the forewings, small portion of costal space, half of first cell of subcostal space, 1/10^th of median space, half of cubito-anal space and 1/4^th of first cell of anal anterior space. In the hindwings, small portion of costal space, 3/4^th of subcostal space, first cell of cubito-anal space extending just slightly into the second cell, and triangular marking encompassing 7–8 cells of anal anterior space, extending into neighbouring cells. Medially, two rows of cells present between: i) IRP2 & Rspl, ii) RP3+4 & MA, and iii) MP & CuA. Pterostigma bicoloured, central region black with dark brown on both sides (Image 4). Abdomen black, pruinosed bluish (Image 5). Secondary genitalia: Anterior hamuli with a base, a posteriorly facing lobe ending with sharply curved, hook-like, pointed end. Posterior hamuli with margins straight, rounded at apices, covered with thick brown hair (Image 6). Cerci pale brown with darker brown apices, conical, broader at base and pointed apically, covered with whitish hair. Epiproct dark brown, black at base and apices, curved slightly upwards (Images 7, 8, 9).

There are three other species of odonates—Bradinopyga geminata (Rambur, 1842), Indothemis carnatica (Fabricius, 1798) and Indothemis limbata (Selys, 1891)—which co-occur in the region and look similar to B. konkanensis, but they can be separated by clear distinguishing features (Fraser 1936; Joshi & Sawant 2020). We have tabulated the differences to aid precise identification of these species during field surveys (Table 1). We report Bradinopyga konkanensis from Kidoor village in Kerala, 450 km away from its nearest record (Devgad, Maharashtra). Kidoor is at a distance of 6 km from the sea and falls within the range of distances from sea recorded earlier for the species (0–89 km). The observation adds credence to the opinion of the authors of the species that it could be found in lateritic coastal habitats in Goa and Karnataka. A survey of similar habitats in the coastal region of Kerala could also yield additional records.

Table 1. Differences between Bradinopyga konkanensis and closely similar species (males).

Species Feature	Bradinopyga konkanensis	Bradinopyga geminata	Indothemis carnatica	Indothemis limbata
No. of cell rows (medially) between: IRP2 & Rspl RP3+4 & MA MP & CuA	Two	Two	One	One
Basal wing colouration	Brown tint up to anal anterior space in forewings and extending to neighbouring cells of anal anterior space in hindwings	Hyaline (no colour)	Small point of amber yellow in hindwings	Dark mahogany brown, reaching the first antenodal nervure in forewings and second antenodal & arc in hindwings
Pterostigma	Bicolorous, black at the centre & brown at the sides	Bicolorous, black at the centre & white at the sides	Bright ochreous between thick black nervures	Ochreous, paler along posterior border, bordered with a thick black nervure anteriorly & a thin one posteriorly
Thorax	Dark blue	Dirty pale yellow, marbled and peppered with black irregularly (like granite)	Blackish-brown	Black
Abdomen	Black, pruinosed bluish	Black marbled with yellow	Blackish-brown with yellow markings obscurely showing through	Black with yellow markings forming a broken lateral stripe

For figure & images - - click here

References

Fraser, F.C. (1936). The Fauna of British-India including Ceylon and Burma, Odonata. Vol. III. Taylor and Francis Ltd., London, 461pp.

Garrison, R.W., N. von Ellenreider & J.A. Louton (2006). Dragonfly genera of the New World: An Illustrated and Annotated Key to the Anisoptera. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 368pp.

Joshi, S. & D. Sawant (2020). Description of Bradinopyga konkanensis sp. nov. (Odonata: Anisoptera: Libellulidae) from the coastal region of Maharashtra, India. Zootaxa. 4779: 65–78. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4779.1.4

Schorr, M. & D. Paulson (2020). World Odonata List. https://www.pugetsound.edu/academics/academic-resources/slater-museum/biodiversity-resources/dragonflies/world-odonata-list2/ Electronic version accessed on 26 July 2020.