Oligoclada mortis sp. nov. from Rondônia State, Brazil, and distributional records of other species of the genus (Odonata: Libellulidae)

Abstract

Oligoclada mortis sp. nov. (holotype male deposited in MZSP: Brazil, Rondônia State, Porto Velho municipality, “T[ransect] 5-21, seg[ment]12” (09°35′19^′′S, 65°02′50^′′W, 106 m asl, 13 v 2010, leg. Nogueira & Mendes) is described and illustrated based on two males. The new species fits within Borror's Group III, differing from all other described species in the genus by the combination of an entirely black labium, a large posterior hamule, sickle-shaped and ventrally longer than the genital lobe, and long cerci, with the ratio between epiproct and cerci less than 0.67. A key to males of the seven species of Group III and distributional records based on the specimens deposited in the DZRJ and MZSP Brazilian collections are also presented. The new species is the eighth species of Oligoclada reported from Rondônia, this being the richest Brazilian State for this genus.

Keywords:

• Dragonfly
• Libellulidae
• Oligoclada
• new species
• taxonomy
• Rondônia State
• Amazonia Forest

Acknowledgements

We are indebted to Dr. Sônia A. Casari, curator of the aquatic insects collection in MZSP, and Dr. Nelson Ferreira-Jr and Jorge L. Nessimian, curators of DZRJ; special thanks are due to Dr. Rogério R. Silva (MZSP) for sending this impressive material for description and for gently providing additional information on the collecting locality; Dr. Alcimar L. Carvalho (MNRJ, Brazil) for allowing APP to use his laboratory and also for access to his personal odonatological library; Dr. Angelo B. M. Machado (UFMG, Brazil) for his generosity in donating rare specimens of Oligoclada, allowing confident comparisons; Dr. Dennis Paulson (University of Puget Sound, USA) for help with Nicaragua records; Dr. Jürg De Marmels (MIZA, Venezuela) for graciously reviewing the manuscript and improving the text significantly. This study was partially supported by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, PhD fellowship to the first author), ARCADIS Tetraplan S.A. and Energia Sustentável do Brasil. Finally we thank the reviewers Natalia von Ellenrieder and Jim Johnson, as well as the editor Michael L. May for their insightful suggestions.