Pseudagrion spencei Fraser, 1922

Payra, Arajush, Deshpande, Ameya & Koparde, Pankaj, 2023, New spatial records of three Odonata species from the Western Ghats, India (Coenagrionidae, Aeshnidae), Amurian Zoological Journal XV (4), pp. 847-853 : 850

Pseudagrion spencei Fraser, 1922 ( Fig. 3 )

Material examined. India, Maharashtra, Satara, Marathwadi (17 ° 26΄14.53˝N, 73 ° 53΄17.82˝E, Elevation: 635 m a. s. l.), 1♂, 20.11.2021 .

Distribution in India. Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal ( Babu 2014; Tiple et al. 2013; Rathod et al. 2016; Payra et al. 2022)

Diagnosis. P. spencei is one of the 13 species of Pseudagrion occurring in India ( Kalkman et al. 2020; Kalkman, Blagoderov 2022). The species can be distinguished from its Indian congeners by a bright blue face and an azure blue synthorax with black humeral and dorsal stripes. Cerci equal in length to abdominal segment 10. Cerci bifid at apex, inner side of cerci not expanded and with robust inner basal spine ( Fraser 1933).

Remarks. P. spencei is a widely distributed species in India, described based on a male collected from Shillong, Meghalaya ( Fraser 1933). In Maharashtra, the species was reported from the Vidarbha region of Central Indian landscape ( Tiple et al. 2013). Further, the species was recorded from Southern Gujarat ( Rathod et al. 2016), but has never been reported from the Western Ghats region ( Subramanian et al. 2018). Here, we added P. spencei to the Odonata list of the Western Ghats based on the record of a single male from Marathwadi of Satara District, Maharashtra. Our present record is suggestive of the need of intensive surveys to uncover the geographical distribution of widespread species.

Figures

Fig. 3. Photograph of Pseudagrion spencei Fraser, 1922 taken at Satara, Maharashtra, India Рис. 3. Pseudagrion spencei Fraser, 1922, Сатаре, Махараштра, ИнΑия