Six, not two, species of Acisoma pintail dragonfly (Odonata: Libellulidae)

Abstract

The dragonfly genus Acisoma is revised based on adult male morphology and COI sequence data. Six species are recognised, including the new species A. attenboroughi sp. nov. Diagnoses and a key to males of all species and illustrations of all relevant characters are provided. A. inflatum, A. variegatum and A. trifidum are confined to continental Africa, while A. panorpoides is restricted to Asia. A. ascalaphoides is known only from threatened littoral forest fragments on the east coast of Madagascar, while A. attenboroughi is widespread across the island. The new species honours Sir David Attenborough on his 90^th birthday.

New data on dragonflies (Odonata) of Mozambique, with a new country record of Phyllogomphus selysi Schouteden, 1933

“…Due to the thorough revision of the genus Acisoma, three continental African species have finally been recognised (Mens et al 2016). The species-name Acisoma panorpoides Rambur, previously used by Pinhey (1981) for this area, appears to cover two of them, A. inflatum Selys, 1889 and A. variegatum.…”

“…panorpoides' (Pinhey 1981) have been verified, all being A. variegatum. The verified localities are situated in the north-western, central and far southern areas of the country (Mens et al 2016). A. variegatum most probably is quite common in Mozambique, but collecting new data, such as the new Gorongosa locality, is necessary to complete the distribution picture after the taxonomic changes and to assess the actual status of A. variegatum and A. inflatum, the latter still not confirmed for the country.…”

“…Since then, only very little data, both current and old revised data, have been dispersed in several, partly taxonomic papers (e.g. Dijkstra 2006, 2007a, 2007b, Mens et al 2016, Jocque et al 2018. The most recent Mozambican list of species, including 136 species, was presented in the Eastern African synthesis (Dijkstra and Clausnitzer 2014).…”

Natural history: Restore our sense of species

“…Fortunately, the dragonfly Acisoma attenboroughi 10 (pictured) can be seen easily there. Kai Schütte and I first noticed in the field and in collections that this species had been confused with its African and Asian counterparts for 174 years -a fact confirmed by DNA studies in the molecular labs at the museums of Leiden in the Netherlands and Hamburg in Germany.…”