Update to the status of Lindeni tetraphylla (Vander Linden, 1825) (Odonata Gomphidae) in Italy, with special reference to the Molise regions

Abstract

Data concerning a new reproductive population of Lindenia tetraphylla (Vander Linden, 1825 (Odonata Gomphidae), found by the authors in Molise, Central Italy, between 2012 and 2018, are here reported. The species was recorded in some artificial farm ponds of the inland agricultural area, where localized but conspicuous reproductive populations are annually found. A single sighting from 2017 is also reported from the Abruzzo region, where the species has never been recorded before. The data here discussed update the status for Italy and enlarge the known distribution area. All the sites where the species is found in Molise are listed and mapped, brief data concerning habitat used are also reported.

Lindenia tetraphylla new to Libya (Odonata: Gomphidae)

“…According to available records, the species seems to be mostly scattered in southwest and central Asia, probably due to sampling effort. It is conversely more strongly established than previously believed in mainland Italy and Sardinia ( Corso et al 2019) but is considered extinct in Spain. Recent findings from Tunisia, Crete and Algeria ( Kunz & Kunz 2001; Brochard & van der Ploeg 2013; Hamzaoui et al 2015) show that the species can take advantage of newly created and isolated water bodies in deserts and remote islands to establish itself and increase its distribution within its range, thanks to its well-known migratory and vagrant behaviour ( Schneider 1981; Brochard & van der Ploeg 2013).…”

“…This gomphid is known as a migrant in the Arabian Peninsula (Schnei der 1981;Schneider & Samraoui 2015) and recently established itself in the remote island of Crete, taking advantage of the construction of new man-made reservoirs and ponds to overcome the present rainfall deficit (Brochard & van der Ploeg 2013). Disjunct reproductive populations are known in Italy, Greece, Croatia, Tunisia, and western Algeria (Kunz & Kunz 2001;Brochard & van der Ploeg 2013;Bou dot 2014;Hamzaoui et al 2015;Vilenica et al 2016;Corso 2019), so reproduction in Libya is not unlikely. Further investigations are needed to check the probable reproductive status of L. tetraphylla in Libya.…”

The circumtropical Pantala flavescens is a regular visitor to Cyprus and reproducing on the island (Odonata: Libellulidae)

“…Prior to 2019 there was no reported successful breeding of Pantala fla vescens in Europe (Günther 2019) nor even of any reproductive activity (Kalk man & Monnerat 2015;Corso et al 2017) with the exception of a teneral male on Rhodes on 29-viii-200129-viii- (Laister 2005. Successful breeding in Europe was only noticed in 2019, when an exuvia and an adult were discovered in south-eastern Brandenburg, Germany (Günther 2019) and when an exuvia was found in the canton of Aargau, Switzerland (Henseler et al 2019).…”

“…Prior to 2012, there were just 12 published records from Turkish Thrace (Hacet & Aktaç 2004), Montenegro (Ober 2008), Greece (Blincow 2005), Rhodes (Laister 2005), the Italian islands of Linosa and Lampedusa (Corso et al 2012) and Croatia (Finkenzeller 2010). Since 2012 there is a significant increase in the number of published records and from several new countries and islands: Bulgaria (De Knijf 2015), the Maltese Islands (Degabriele 2014; Gauci 2018), the Russian enclave Kaliningrad (Buczyński et al 2014), the Canary Islands (Martinez-Darve Sanz & Cano-Villegas 2014;Weihrauch et al 2016), the Azores (Vieira & Cordero-Rivera 2015), Poland (Buczyński et al 2019), Sicily (Corso et al 2017;Galasso et al 2017), mainland Italy (Piretta & Assandri 2019), Lithuania (Jusys et al 2019), Belarus (unpubl. data on www.observation.org) and France (Soustelle et al 2020).…”