Checklist of the dragonflies (Odonata) of Iran with new records and notes on distribution and taxonomy

Abstract

Iran has a complex dragonfly fauna influenced by contacts and overlaps of different geographical zones. Its fauna is dominated by Eurosiberian taxa. However, the SE Province Sistãn-va-Baluchestãn is rich in oriental species, many of which having their western distribution limit in Iran. In NE-Iran, Irano-Turanian elements live and in the S- and SW-Iran African species are found. The Iranian Odonata fauna seems well studied, however, a closer look reveals many uncertainties and confusion, some records coming clearly from misidentification whereas other, which were missing proofs of correct identification remains to be confirmed. Even today, every new collecting trip reveals species new for Iran whereas species new for science are still detected, although rarely. In this checklist we include seven taxa new for Iran: Stylurus ubadschii (although a male of uncertain origin is recorded in Schmidt (1954), Ischnura senegalensis (although two uncertain records were published by Martin (1912) and Schmidt (1954), Coenagrion ponticum, C. lunulatum, C. pulchellum, Lestes macrostigma, and Calopteryx splendens tschaldirica. We critically checked all available data, including all published records. Fourteen taxa have been rejected, or placed in the category for need of confirmation. Till the end of 2017, 100 autochthonous taxa of dragonflies and two migratory species could be confirmed to be or have been present in Iran. We provide distribution maps, created after evaluation of published data and containing our own data from 12 trips to Iran, travelling over 35000 km in the country. Over 200 new localities are integrated. Taxonomic confusion is reduced by rejecting the following taxa for Iran: Calopteryx splendens mingrelica, C. hyalina, Erythromma najas, Aeshna cyanea, Gomphus davidi, and Sympetrum sinaiticum. We regard the taxa Gomphus amseli and G. schneiderii transcaspicus as synonyms of G. schneiderii, and Onychogomphus forcipatus lucidostriatus as a synonym of O. f. albotibialis.

Taxonomic Revision of Eastern Part of Western Palaearctic Cordulegaster Using Molecular Phylogeny and Morphology, with the Description of Two New Species (Odonata: Anisoptera: Cordulegastridae)

“…For example, all members of the bidentata-group of the region are currently treated under C. insignis or a subspecies of this species [11]. Furthermore, some authors treated C. charpentieri or C. coronata as separate species without specifying scientific reasons [44][45][46][47].…”

Updates to the fauna of dragonflies (Odonata) of the Altaiskii Krai with new records of species for Siberia

“…Notes. The current consensus is absence of clear subspecies in I. elegans [Schröter et al, 2015;Kosterin, Ahmadi, 2018;Schneider et al, 2018;Malikova, Kosterin, 2019].…”

Chironomidae (Diptera: Insecta) of Qeshlagh River, Kurdistan: DNA and morphology reveal new genus, species, and faunistic records for Iran

“…The country is located in the Palaearctic; however, its borders are close to other biogeographical realms (Olson et al, 2001;Paknia et al, 2008). The high biodiversity of Iranian fauna, particularly insects, has been contributed to its location and the influences from Palaearctic in the north, in the south Afrotropical from the Arabian Peninsula and in the southeast the Oriental region (Abe et al, 2007;De Moor & Ivanov, 2007;Lashkari Bod et al, 2011;Madjnoonian et al, 2005;Mirmoayedi & Malicky, 2002;Mozaffarian, 2013;Paknia et al, 2008;Paksa et al, 2019;Schneider et al, 2018;Sperling & Nazari, 2007). Therefore, it should also Mohammadi et al, 2021).…”

“…The importance of these local faunistic studies is not limited to the province and reflects broadly on the whole country. For instance, despite decades of extensive and detailed studies on the terrestrial insects of Iran, only a handful of orders and families of aquatic insects in the country were studied (Bojková et al, 2018;Ebrahimi et al, 2009;Schneider et al, 2018). Except for freshwater vertebrates such as fish, baseline knowledge of biodiversity for freshwater invertebrates of Iran remains poor (Coad, 2005).…”