Burmagomphus, Williamson, 1907

Joshi, Shantanu, Sawant, Dattaprasad, Ogale, Hemant & Kunte, Krushnamegh, 2022, Burmagomphus chaukulensis, a new species of dragonfly (Odonata: Anisoptera Gomphidae) from the Western Ghats, Maharashtra, India, Zootaxa 5133 (3), pp. 413-430 : 430

An identification key to the males of Indian Burmagomphus

In his identification key to the genus Burmagomphus, Fraser (1934) wrote: “Humeral stripe a short lower one only, without any upper spot”. This is true of other known species, but the presence of the upper humeral spot is known to be variable within the species of Burmagomphus (e.g., Kosterin 2014), this is also true for B. chaukulensis . Moreover, B. cauvericus can be better diagnosed based upon the lateral thoracic markings and the shape of posterior hamuli. We provide below an updated key to the males of Indian Burmagomphus based on inspection of additional material and the description of our new species.

1. Dorsal and antehumeral stripes fused..................................................................... 2

- Dorsal and antehumeral stripes not fused, antehumeral stripe short or absent...................................... 4

- Antehumeral stripe broad and long, running parallel to the dorsal thoracic stripe........................ B. sivalikensis

2. Thoracic collar fused, S8 yellow with a dorsal black patch......................................... B. pyramidalis

- Thoracic collar interrupted medially, S8 black or with minute yellow markings.................................... 3

3. Cerci with two sharp spines on lateral margin, paraproct sharply extended laterally...................... B. divaricatus

- Cerci with two blunt spines on lateral margin, paraproct not extended laterally......................... B. hasimaricus

4. Thoracic stripes on mesepimeron and metepisternum broad and fused................................. B. cauvericus

- Thoracic stripes on mesepimeron and metepisternum parallel and separated...................................... 5

5. Stripe on mesepisternum broad, posterior hamuli with one spine at each side, cerci inwardly curved with an inconspicuous lateral expansion.............................................................................. B. laidlawi

- Stripe on mesepisternum pointed anteriorly, posterior hamuli very wide with a curved spine at anterior end and variable number of spines at posterior end, cerci pointed at apices with a prominent lateral expansion ending in a spine..... B. chaukulensis