Elattoneura tarbotonorum 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 : 493-494

Elattoneura tarbotonorum Dijkstra sp. nov. – Stout Threadtail (Type Photo 10, Fig. 6)

Taxonomy

Belongs to the glauca -group of Elattoneura (see E. lapidaria sp. nov.). Misidentified by Pinhey (1975) as the South African endemic E. frenulata , but both genetics and appendages are distinct from other species ( Tree 1).

Material studied

Holotype ♂. RMNH.INS.500352 , Angola, Huila Province, SW of Lubango, Humpata area, Neve stream , 2069 m a.s.l. (14.5559 ° S 13.2031 ° E), 11–17 -i- 2009, leg. W. Tarboton, RMNH .

Further material. ANGOLA: 1 ♂ ( RMNH.INS.500353 ), as holotype, RMNH . 1 ♂ 1 ♀, Tunda Vala , x- 1973, leg. Bampton, NMBZ .

Genetics

Two unique haplotypes (n = 2) are most distinct within the glauca -group, of which only E. pasquinii was not sampled ( Tree 1).

Male morphological diagnosis

Fairly small damselfly (Hw 18.0–19.0 mm; n = 2) that recalls E. cellularis and E. frenulata by (a) much of the body including the frons and most of the thorax, legs and abdomen being pruinose with maturity; and (b) the ventral process of the cerci ending in a single tip ( Fig. 6). However, (1) is notably more stout, Hw has 57–59 % length of entire body and reaches to base of S 7, rather than 51–53 % and halfway S 6; (2) the ventral portion, including metepisternum and metepimeron, is the blackest and most densely pruinose part of the thorax with a bold yellow stripe spared out down the full length of the metepisternum, running through the metastigma; (3) Fw and Hw Pt have rather acute distal corners, with the anterior and distal borders of similar length and distinctly longer than the posterior and proximal borders respectively, rather than the anterior and posterior borders being more similar and typically longer than the proximal and distal borders; and (4) the cerci have a more slender apex and an abruptly narrowed ventral process with a blunt rather than sharp tip ( Fig. 6).

Etymology

Named in honour of the holotype’s collector Warwick Tarboton and his wife Michèle, who advanced the identification of African Odonata , most recently with their South African fieldguide (plural genitive noun).

Range and ecology

Presumably endemic to Angola, where found at an open, rocky and fastflowing stream at 2 0 69 m a.s.l. together with Pseudagrion greeni Pinhey, 1961 and the also endemic Chlorocypha bamptoni Pinhey, 1975 .