Diplacodes lefebvrii in Sardinia, a new species for the Italian fauna (Odonata: Libellulidae)

Abstract

Diplacodes lefebvrii (Rambur, 1842) is a libellulid dragonfly, which is common and widespread in Africa and across the Indian Ocean. While this species is fairly common in the south and east of the Mediterranean, its European range is confined to Cyprus, the island of Rhodes and the south of the Iberian Peninsula. Here we report the first record of D. lefebvrii for Italy, which was captured near Cagliari (Sardinia) on 11.IX.2013. In October 2014, a population of the same species was observed at a small wetland on the island "Isola di San Pietro" (Sardinia). Here the observed sex ratio of D. lefebvrii was strongly biased in favour of females and only a single male was observed.

First records of Diplacodes lefebvrii (Rambur, 1842) for Sicily and additional record of Trithemis kirbyi Selys, 1891(Odonata Libellulidae)

“…The records of D. lefebvrii here reported, along with the continuing range expansion in Sardinia, clearly confirm the predictions made by Dijkstra & Lewington (2006) and Rattu et al (2014) with an active northward range expansion from Africa. A similarly rapid range expansion was recently noted for the similar Selysiothemis nigra (Van der Linden, 1825), which in Italy has been recorded as far north as Lombardy (Odonata.it).…”

“…It is interesting to note that all the specimens of D. lefebvrii observed at Linosa were females. Such a sex-ratio in favour of females were noticed, and with a much larger sample, also in Sardinia (Rattu et al, 2014;P. Leo, pers.…”

“…Its European range is confined to Cyprus, the Greek island of Rhodes and the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula (Boudot et al, 2009;Boudot & Kalkman, 2015). In Italy, it was recorded for the first time in September 2013 at Molentargius Salt-pans, Cagliari (South Sardinia), while in October 2014 a small but flourishing population was found on the island of San Pietro, Cagliari (South Sardinia) (Rattu et al, 2014). Since then, the species has continued to colonize Sardinia, with one new site discovered in central Sardinia, in Oristano province in August 2015 (Cillo & Bazzato, 2018) and an additional 14 new sites discovered as of the end of 2019, in the municipalities of Cagliari, Carbonia-Iglesias, Ges-turi and Pula, and as far north as Orosei and La Maddalena Island (G. Assandri, pers.…”

Distribution, autecology, genetic characterization, and conservation of the Western Mediterranean endemic dragonfly Orthetrum nitidinerve (Selys, 1841): insights from Italy

“…In Mediterranean climates, the observed increase of warmer and dryer periods, together with the increasing water withdrawal, was reported to determine a general reduction and/or alteration of water resources, with major impacts on aquatic organisms, including dragonflies (Fenoglio, Bo, Cucco, Mercalli, & Malacarne, 2010;Ott, 2010;Zacharias & Zamparas, 2010). An increase in temperatures could be expected to foster a northern expansion of O. nitidinerve at the northern boundaries of its current range (Kalkman & Garrigos, 2015), as reported for other African and Mediterranean species (Biella et al, 2017;Hassall & Thompson, 2008;Janni, Viganò, & Corso, 2020;Piretta & Assandri, 2019;Polette et al, 2017;Rattu et al, 2014); however, to date, there is no evidence of this.…”

Biogeographic evaluation of the dragonflies and damselflies in the Eastern Iberian Peninsula

“…Several Mediterranean species have expanded to Central and Northern Europe, and some African species have expanded to southern Europe (Ott, 2010). Examples of this latter situation may include Diplacodes lefebvrii and Brachythemis impartita which have been detected in Italy (Rattu et al, 2014). Detection of these species in the Valencian territory is likely to represent a 'parallel expansion' of these species in areas with similar climate and latitude: the Valencian Country (Spain) and Sardinia (Italy).…”