Lestes sternalis ( Navás, 1930 )

Mendoza-Penagos, Cristian Camilo, Pérez-Gutiérrez, León A. & Muzón, Javier, 2024, A revision of Lestidae Calvert, 1901 (Odonata: Zygoptera) from Colombia, with the first record of Lestes dichrostigma Calvert, 1909, Zootaxa 5415 (2), pp. 201-240 : 234

Lestes sternalis ( Navás, 1930)

Remarks: The history of this species is unique. Navás (1924, p. 11) described Lestes pallidus , based on a single specimen collected in the municipality of Choachí, Cundinamarca department. Navás’s description is incomplete but includes schematic illustrations of male cerci and pterostigma. Furthermore, Navás made the following observation: “Un ejemplar bastante incompleto y al parecer no completamente adulto existente en mi colección, que no he podido referir a ninguna otra especie, distinguiéndose de las afines por su tamaño, forma de los cercos, color del abdomen y del estigma, etc [Sic]” “A rather incomplete and apparently not fully adult specimen in my collection, which I have not been able to refer to any other species, distinguished from related species by size, shape of the cerci, color of the abdomen and stigma, etc.”.

In 1930, Navás received a warning from the American odonatologist Edward Bruce Williamson that this name had already been used in Rambur (1842) for an African species, Lestes pallida . To avoid synonymies, Navas’s replaced the scientific name of his species as L. sternalis “debido a los dibujos de los esternitos torácicos[Sic]” “because of the drawings of the thoracic sternites” ( Navás 1930).

Like many other species described by Navás, his descriptions have received much criticism for their incompleteness and schematic drawings ( Donnelly 1996). Unfortunately, most of his type material was destroyed or lost during the civil war in Spain, leaving many species without primary types for future comparisons ( Donnelly 1996).

This is true for L. sternalis . Since its original description, it has only been mentioned once in the literature, listed as a species of Colombia, specifically for the Cundinamarca department, with material deposited in ANDESE ( Pérez-Gutiérrez & Palacino-Rodriguez 2011). However , during CCMP’s visit to ANDES-E, no specimens associated with this name were found. Nevertheless , the formal recognition of the species and its type locality being Choachí lead to the decision to retain it on the species list .

Situated on the western slope of the Eastern Andes Mountain range, Choachí stands at an elevation of 1900 m and is part of the buffer zone of the Chingaza National Natural Park. Bota-Sierra (2014b) highlights the significance of these areas for Odonata diversity, where new species have been discovered and new records documented, including descriptions of new species and new reports for the country. However, no comprehensive inventory of the area is available, with only a few records in the literature (see Navás 1924, p. 12; von Ellenrieder & Garrison 2008, p. 17). As a result, it is recommended to conduct future expeditions in the type locality to search for this species.