Africallagma quingentum Dijkstra

Dijkstra, Klaas-Douwe B., Kipping, Jens & Mézière, Nicolas, 2015, Sixty new dragonfly and damselfly species from Africa (Odonata), Odonatologica 44 (4), pp. 447-678 : 497-499

Africallagma quingentum Dijkstra sp. nov. – Green-fronted Bluet (Type Photo 12, Photo 19, Fig. 8)

Taxonomy

Genetically and morphologically very close to the sympatric A. sinuatum (Ris, 1921) but easily separated by details of male coloration and appendages; thus treated as a distinct species by Dijkstra & Clausnitzer (2014), who used the grammatically erroneous name A. quingenti .

Material studied

Holotype ♂. RMNH.INS.505540 , Congo-Kinshasa, Katanga , Upemba National Park, Mukana, west of Lusinga , depressions with (seasonal) marsh, bog lakes and gallery forest in open grassy plains, 1770 – 1840 m a.s.l. (8.91 ° S 27.18 ° E), 13–14 -xi- 2011, leg. K.-D.B. Dijkstra, RMNH .

Further material. CONGO-KINSHASA ( Katanga ): 8 ♂ ( RMNH.INS.505526 , RMNH.INS.505527 , RMNH.INS.505528 ), 1 ♀ ( RMNH.INS.505529 ), Upemba National Park, Lufwi, smaller source of Kafwi , dried bog beside gallery forest, 1825 m a.s.l. (8.9426 ° S 27.1302 ° E), 13 -xi- 2011, leg. K.-D.B. Dijkstra, RMNH .

Genetics

One haplotype (n = 5) shared with A. sinuatum (n = 9; 7 additional haplotypes), which in turn shares one haplotype with A. fractum (Ris, 1921) (n = 7; 1 additional): the three species are thus probably indistinguishable in COI.

Male morphological diagnosis

Most similar to A. sinuatum by (a) fairly large size, Hw 18.0–19.0 mm (n = 5); (b) mostly blue postclypeus; and (c) cerci that are only slightly longer than paraprocts, sinuous in dorsal view, with rather short apex that is not very distinct from the quite short and strongly hooked ventral process ( Fig. 8). However, (1) the face and ante-humeral stripes are pale green, not blue, and thus contrast with the blue sides of the thorax; (2) Pt are pale brown rath- er than blackish with maturity; (3) the dorsum of S 2 is blue with a broad black subapical spot, instead of a continuous though sometimes basally and apically reduced black band; (4) the cerci are narrower in lateral view; and (5)the apical teeth of the paraprocts are reduced to form pale blunt corners ( Fig. 8).

Etymology

Latin name “of five hundred” alludes to this being the 500 th species of African Odonata recorded in the field by the lead author (to be treated as a plural genitive noun). Although the normal genitive plural in neuter would be quingentorum, we prefer the shorter form quingentum used by some older classic authors.

Range and ecology

Found with its presumed sister-species A. sinuatum among tussocks of grass in an open dried-out bog between 1 770 and 1 840 m a.s.l. on the Kibara Plateau in Upemba National Park ( Photo 19).