First time in 110 years: sighting of Gynacantha khasiaca Maclachlan, 1896 (Odonata: Aeshnidae) in Arunachal Pradesh, India

Authors

  • R. Mahesh Kattiparambu Madam, Thekumbhagam, Tripunithura, Ernakulam, Kerala 682301, India.
  • Rajesh Gopinath OIKOS (Eco-Club), BMS Institute of Technology and Management, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560119, India.
  • Gaurav Joshi Parwati Niwas, Jagat Mangla Colony, Haldwani, District Nainital, Uttarakhand 263139, India.
  • Roshan Upadhaya Police Department, Basar, Leparada, Arunachal Pradesh 791101, India.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9839.18.5.28982-28987

Keywords:

Biodiversity, Duskhawker, Deban, eastern Himalaya, ecosystem, entomofauna, insect, Namdapha National Park, rediscovery

Abstract

This communication reports the first confirmed sighting of Gynacantha khasiaca Maclachlan, 1896 after 110 years at Namdapha National Park and Tiger Reserve for the state of Arunachal Pradesh, India. Also commonly called as Long-tailed Duskhawker, the identification was based on photographic evidence documented in the presence of forest personnel at Deban in the Tiger Reserve during October 2024, and adds to the region’s biodiversity inventory. This finding emphasizes upon the importance of continuous monitoring and habitat preservation of in situ biodiversity conservation.

References

Aadarsa, V.R.R., S. Ashok & R. Gopinath (2021). Inadvertent implications of climate change for butterflies. ACTA Universitatis Sapientiae Agriculture and Environment 13: 13–22. https://doi.org/10.2478/ausae-2021-0002

Arunachal Online (2024). https://www.arunachalonline.in/guide/profile-of-arunachal-pradesh. Accessed on 24.xi.2024.

Corbet, P.S. (1999). Dragonflies: Behaviour and Ecology of Odonata. Harley Books, Colchester, United Kingdom, xxxii+829 pp.

Córdoba-Aguilar, Alex (ed.) (2008) Dragonflies and Damselflies: Model Organisms for Ecological and Evolutionary Research. Oxford Academic, 290 pp. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230693.001.0001

Fabricius, J.C. (1775). Sistens insectorum classes, ordines, genera, species adiectis synonymis, locis, descriptionibus, observationibus, Systema Entomologie. Flensburgi and Lipsiae, 832 pp. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.36510

Fraser, F.C. (1924). A survey of the Odonate (Dragonfly) fauna of Western India with special remarks on the genera Macromia and Idionyx and descriptions of thirty new species with appendices I & II. . Records of the Indian Museum, Zoological Survey of India 26(5): 504–505. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v26/i5/1924/162660

Fraser, F.C. (1936). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma: Odonata. Vol. III, Taylor & Francis, London, 461 pp. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v8/i1/1912/163133

Gopinath, R. (2022). Natyra: A Handbook on Urban Flora and Fauna of BMSIT&M, Bengaluru. OIKOS, India, 270 pp.

Kalkman, V., R. Babu, M. Bedjanič, K. Conniff, T. Gyeltshen, M. Khan, K.A. Subramanian, A. Zia & A. Orr (2020). Checklist of the dragonflies and damselflies (Insecta: Odonata) of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Zootaxa 4849(1): 1–84. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4849.1.1

Khan, M.K. (2015a). Dragonflies and damselflies (Insecta: Odonata) of the northeastern region of Bangladesh with five new additions to the Odonata fauna of Bangladesh. Journal of Threatened Taxa 7(11): 7795–7804. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o4314.7795-804

Khan, M.K. (2015b). Gynacantha subinterrupta Rambur, 1842: An addition to the odonates of Bangladesh. Journal of Threatened Taxa 7(10): 7704–7705. https://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o4276.7704-5

Kimmins, D.E. (1969). A list of the type-specimens of Odonata in the British museum (Natural History) part II. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Entomology 23(7): 289–314. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.15135

Laidlaw, F.F. (1914). Odonata. Zoological Results of the Abor Expedition. Indian Museum, Calcutta, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 8(4): 335–349. https://doi.org/10.26515/rzsi/v8/i4/1914/163176

Laidlaw, F.F. (1923). The dragonflies (Odonata) of Burma and Lower Siam III: Subfamily Aeschinae. U.S. Government Printing Office, Art. 21: 1–29, 1 pi.

Leach, W.E. (1815). Entomology. In: Brewster, D. (ed.). The Edinburgh Encyclopedia 9(1): 57–172.

Mahesh, R., R. Gopinath, G. Joshi & R. Upadhaya (2025). First record of the Coeliccia svihleri Asahina, 1970 (Odonata: Platycnemididae) in Arunachal Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 17(8): 27363–27370. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9533.17.8.27363-27370

Martin, R. (1909). Aeschnines. Collections Zoologiques du Baron Edmund de Selys-Longchamps. Catalogue Systematique et Descriptif 20: 157–223.

McLachlan, R. (1896). On some Odonata of the subfamily Aeschninae. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 17: 409–425. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222939608680393

Mitra, T.R., R. Babu & R.A. Dow (2010). Gynacantha khasiaca. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. e.T167396A6341657. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T167396A6341657.en. Accessed on 24.xi.2024.

Mitra, T.R. (2002). Geographical distribution of Odonata of Eastern India. Memoirs of Zoological Survey of India 19: 1–208.

Paulson, D., M. Schorr, J. Abbott C. Bota-Sierra, C. Deliry, K.-D. Dijkstra & F. Lozano (Coordinators) (2026). World Odonata List. OdonataCentral, University of Alabama.https://www.odonatacentral.org/app/#/wol/. Accessed on 18.v.2026.

Payra, A., G.N. Das, A. Pal, D. Patra & A. Tiple (2017). New locality records of a rare Dragonfly Gynacantha khasiaca Maclachlan, 1896 (Odonata Aeshnidae) from India. Biodiversity Journal 8(1): 27–32. https://biostor.org/reference/295210

Prasad, M. & C. Sinha (2010). Odonata: Anisoptera. In, Fauna of Uttarakhand. State Fauna Series 18(2): 29–52.

Ram, R. & M. Prasad (1999). On the collection of odonata from Arunachal Pradesh, India. Records of the zoological Survey of India: 113–132.

Rambur, J.P. (1842). Histoire naturelle des insects Néveropteres. Libraire Encyclopédique de Roret’s suite 4 Buffon. Paris, xviii + 534 pp. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.59226

Sathyakumar, S., A. Kumar & P. Singh (2011). Conservation status of Namdapha National Park, Arunachal Pradesh. Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering 53(2): 137–146.

Sawant, D., A. Dalvi & S. Bagchi (2026). Gynacantha khasiaca MacLachlan, 1896 – Long-tailed Duskhawker. In: Joshi, S., D. Sawant & K. Kunte (eds.) Odonata of India, v 1.57. Indian Foundation for Butterflies. https://www.indianodonata.org/gynacantha-khasiaca. Accessed on 18.v.2026.

Selys-Longchamps, E. de (1854). Synopsis des Gomphines. Bulletins de l’Académie Royale des Sciences. des Lettres et des BeauxArts de Belgique 21(2): 23–112. https://biostor.org/reference/235950

Theischinger, G., M. Marinov, S. Bybee, C. Jensen, J. Theuerkauf & B. Rashni (2020). The genus Gynacantha Rambur, 1842 in the South Pacific (Odonata: Anisoptera: Aeshnidae). Zootaxa 4778(1): 171–195. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4778.1.7

The Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act (2022). Ministry of Law and Justice. https://ntca.gov.in/. Accessed on 10.i.2025.

Upadhaya, R., R. Gopinath, R. Mahesh & G. Joshi (2026). First photographic record of Chitoria sordida sordida (Moore, 1866) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Apaturinae) from Arunachal Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 18(3): 28600–28603. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.9480.18.3.28600-28603

Vick, G.S. (1989). List of the dragonflies recorded from Nepal, with a summary of their altitudinal distribution (Odonata). Opuscula Zoologica Fluminensia 43: 1–21.

Downloads

Published

26-05-2026

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 5 (2026)

Section

Short Communications

License

Copyright (c) 2026 R. Mahesh, Rajesh Gopinath, Gaurav Joshi, Roshan Upadhaya

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT.  This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership.  Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.