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On the diversity and abundance of riparian odonate fauna (Insecta) of the midstream Chalakkudy River, Kerala, India

C. Nitha Bose, C.F. Binoy & Francy K. Kakkassery

26 July 2021 | Vol. 13 | No. 8 | Pages: 19053–19059 DOI: 10.11609/jot.7328.13.8.19053-19059

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Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2021 | 13(8): 19053–19059 ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) OPEN ACCESS htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.7328.13.8.19053-19059

#7328 | Received 10 April 2021 | Final received 14 June 2021 | Finally accepted 04 July 2021

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On the diversity and abundance of riparian odonate fauna (Insecta) of the midstream Chalakkudy River, Kerala, India

C. Nitha Bose 1 , C.F. Binoy 2 & Francy K. Kakkassery 3

1 Research and Postgraduate Department of Zoology,, St. Thomas’ College (Autonomous), Thrissur, Kerala 680001, India. 1 [email protected], 2 [email protected], 3 [email protected] (corresponding author)

Abstract: The riparian Odonate diversity of the midstream Chalakudy River at six locatons assessed from February 2018 to January 2019 has revealed the occurrence of 25 species of odonates. Among them,10 species are dragonfies belonging to seven genera of the family and the remaining 15 species are damselfies belonging to six families and 11 genera. Five endemic damselfy species have been recorded. indicum is endemic to the , while the remaining four species, apicalis, Libellago indica, Dysphaea ethela, and Heliocypha bisignata, are endemic to India. Diversity indices of the odonates in all the six locatons were analyzed and it showed less abundance at sites where tourist actvites are more and with thin natve riparian vegetaton. Further, the study has unequivocally revealed that thick natve riparian vegetaton is essental for their perching and existence. By and large, the uncontrolled tourism actvites and habitat alteraton interfere with the density and diversity of these endemic species.

Keywords: Damselfies, dragonfies, endemism, odonates, tourism, Western Ghats.

Editor: Ashish D. Tiple, Vidyabharat college, Seloo, Wardha, India. Date of publicaton: 26 July 2021 (online & print)

Citaton: Bose, C.N., C.F. Binoy & F. Kakkassery (2021). On the diversity and abundance of riparian odonate fauna (Insecta) of the midstream Chalakkudy River, Kerala, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 13(8): 19053–19059. htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.7328.13.8.19053-19059

Copyright: © Bose et al. 2021. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton.

Funding: Human Resource Development Group - Council of Scientfc and Industrial Research(CSIR).

Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests.

Author details: Nitha Bose C, is a research scholar under the guidance of Dr. Francy K. Kakkassery and the co guidance of Dr. C.F. Binoy at the Department of Zoology, St.Thomas’ College (Autonomous). Her research work is based on and molecular phylogeny of odonates of Kerala. Dr. C.F. Binoy, has been working as Assistant Professor (Selecton Grade) in the Research and Post Graduate Department of Zoology, St.Thomas’ College (Autonomous). He is a research guide under the University of Calicut, guiding four doctoral students and as co-guide of three. Entomology, especially biodiversity conservaton related to , insect ecology, pollinaton biology of mangrove ecosystem are the felds of interest. Dr. Francy K. Kakkassery has been working as Associate Professor and Head in the Research and Post Graduate Department of Zoology, St.Thomas’ College (Autonomous). He retred from service last year afer a long 30 years. He has been doing research in feld Entomology, specializing in dragonfies and damselfles, and also in aquatc biology. Six students are doing doctoral research work under his guidance.

Author contributons: NBC— data collecton, data analysis and interpretaton, drafing the artcle, editng; CFB—fnal approval of the version; FKK—concepton or design of the work, critcal revision of artcle, editng, fnal approval of the version.

Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to the Council of Scientfc and Industrial Research (CSIR) for fnancial support. The authors express indebtedness to Dr. K.H. Amitha Bachan, assistant professor & research guide, Research Department of Botany, MES Asmabi College, Kodungallur. The authors are thankful to the principal, St. Thomas’ College (Autonomous), Thrissur for facilites provided.

19053 J TT Odonate fauna of midstream Chalakkudy River, Kerala Bose et al. INTRODUCTION Table 1. Odonate collecton localites. Alttude Kerala has a comprehensively documented odonate Sample collecton sites Lattude Longitude (m) fauna. The relevant works among them include that L1 Ezhatumugham 10.295 76.451 39 of Rao & Lahiri (1982), Mathavan & Miller (1989), L2 Chiklayi 10.294 76.470 46 Radhakrishnan (1997), Emiliyamma & Radhakrishnan L3 Ayyampuzha 10.292 76.478 47 (2002), Emiliyamma (2005), Palot et al. (2005), Adarsh et L4 Vetlappara 10.289 76.512 64 al. (2014), Varghese et al. (2014), Nair (2017), and Susanth L5 Athirappilly 10.285 76.558 86 & Anooj (2020). Recent works further added up the rich L6 Athirappilly waterfalls 10.284 76.569 116 odonate diversity of Kerala to 174 species (Emiliyamma et al. 2020; Joshi et al. 2020). The seasonal and habitat distributon of diversity of riparian habitats common (180–240 sightngs), CO—Common (120–180 such as Mula and Mutha river basins in Maharashtra was sightngs), OC—Occasional (60–120 sightngs), and RA— studied by Kulkarni & Subramanian (2013). Species turn Rare (1–60 sightngs)) depending upon their occurrence over and abundance of the odonates of riparian zones during the survey (Palot et al. 2005; Tiple et al. 2012). depends on season and land use types. Endemics and habitat specialists are restricted to undisturbed riverine ecosystems as they possess a narrow range of habitat RESULTS tolerance. Conservaton of riparian zone results in the conservaton of endemics of odonates (Subramanian During the study period, 2,186 individuals of 25 2007; Subramanian et al. 2008). The present study species were observed. Out of these, 10 species were investgated the odonate diversity and abundance of dragonfies of the suborder Anisoptera, belonging to midstream Chalakkudy river giving special reference to seven genera and the family Libellulidae. The remaining endemics. 15 species were damselfies under the suborder Zygoptera and they come under 11 genera in six families (Tables 1, 2). Libellulidae is the only anisopteran METHODS family, which has been observed among the odonates in the present survey. Orthetrum sabina a well-known The survey was conducted once a month from cannibalistc dragonfy, has been found to be very February 2018 to January 2019 by conventonal random common. On the other hand, Onychothemis testacea sampling. Six locatons of midstream Chalakkudy River was encountered very rarely during the present survey. were randomly selected for the observaton of odonates. Members of the family (6 species) The river is 13.5 km (approximately) long from the frst were dominatng in the order Zygoptera succeeded locaton to last one (Bachan 2003). The details of the study by Calopterigidae (3 species) and Platycnemididae (3 localites are given in Table 1. All the six locatons are with species). and Prodasineura vertcalis rocky river bed and evergreen and semi evergreen forest were common but Aciagrion occidentale was observed vegetaton. Madhuca neriifolia, Syzigium occidentale, only sporadically in this region. Out of the 25 species Humboldta vahliana, Elaeocarpus, and Homonoia recorded, fve species are endemics and they belong riparia are the dominant species of fowering plants in to the suborder Zygoptera. But Pseudagrion indicum these locatons (Bachan 2010). The selected locatons is endemic to Western Ghats, while Vestalis apicalis is have been confronted with anthropogenic disturbances endemic to southern and central India, Libellago indica such as habitat alteraton due to tourism actvites is endemic to peninsular India, whereas Dysphaea ethela including resorts & commercial establishments, oil and Heliocypha bisignata are endemic to India (Kalkman palm plantatons, and actvites of local people. The et al. 2020). The most dominant endemic species odonates were documented and identfed with the observed in the present survey was Dysphaea ethela help of photographs, keys, and descriptons given in the and Heliocypha bisignata, which exhibited a minimum literature (Fraser 1933, 1934, 1936; Kiran & Raju 2013). level of occurrence. The percentage distributon of each The species richness and abundance were recorded and endemic species is as follows: Pseudagrion indicum 9%, Simpson & Shannon diversity indices and eveness values Vestalis apicalis 26%, Libellago indica 28%, Dysphaea were calculated using PAST sofware. The observed ethela 34%, and Heliocypha bisignata 3%. The frst species of odonates were categorized as VC—Very locaton Ezhatumugham (L1) harboured as many as 536

19054 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2021 | 13(8): 19053–19059 Odonate fauna of midstream Chalakkudy River, Kerala Bose et al. J TT

Figure 1. Abundance of dragonfies and damselfies in the Chalakudy River. Figure 2. Species richness of dragonfies and damselfies in the Chalakudy River. individuals in 21 species. Vestalis apicalis was the most Table 2. List of dragonfies recorded from Chalakudy River. abundant, and endemic species. Onychothemis testacea IUCN and Zygonyx iris were recorded only from this locaton. Scientfc name (Family: Libellulidae) Abundance status The highest number of endemics were also recorded 1 Diplacodes trivialis (Rambur, 1842) O LC from here. Inspite of the disturbances from tourists, this 2 Neurothemis tullia (Drury, 1773) O LC locaton showed a good quantty of natve vegetaton 3 Onychothemis testacea (Laidlaw, 1902) R LC including emergent vegetaton and shade cover and 4 Orthetrum chrysis (Selys, 1891) R LC that perhaps resulted in the collecton of a maximum 5 Orthetrum pruinosum (Burmeister, 1839) R LC number of individuals. The second locaton, Chiklayi (L2) 6 Orthetrum sabina (Drury, 1770) VC LC yielded a maximum observaton of 363 individuals of 7 Pantala favescens (Fabricius, 1798) O LC 17 species. Orthetrum sabina was the common species 8 Trithemis aurora (Burmeister, 1839) VC LC but Libellago indica was the prevalent endemic of this 9 Trithemis festva (Rambur, 1842) C LC locaton. The habitat is rocky in nature with moderate shade cover and prominent emergent vegetaton. 10 Zygonyx iris (Selys, 1869) R LC Tourists’ actvites are appreciably low and the natve VC—Very common | CO—Common | OC—Occasional | RA—Rare | EN— vegetaton is limited by oil palm plantaton. Maximum Endemic. value of diversity indices was shown by locaton. The third locaton, Ayyampuzha (L3) was polluted by the actvites of local people and tourists to some extent. found along with the frequently encountered endemic But the oil palm plantaton ousted the natve vegetaton. damselfy, Libellago indica. Athirappilly waterfalls From this locaton having traces of shoreline plants, (L6) is another beautful locaton where the tourists limited shade cover, boulders and rocks, 284 individuals actvites are signifcantly high and endowed with rocky of 15 species were recorded of which, Trithemis aurora habitat and riparian vegetaton. But the presence of was dominant with the endemic species Libellago macrophytes and overhanging vegetaton is scanty indica. Vetlappara (L4) is yet another locaton having due to tourists disturbances. As a result, the numerical least human interference with appreciable shade abundance of species recorded from this locaton was cover and riparian vegetaton. But the natve riparian very less. However, the endemic dragonfies, Dysphaea vegetaton is narrowed into a thin belt by the plantaton ethela and Vestalis apicalis were the dominatng species crops. Libellago indica (endemic) and Pseudagrion of this locaton. rubriceps were the commonly found species during the study period. A total of 501 individuals belonging to 17 Efect of food species were encountered in Vetlappara. Athirappilly During the month of August of the study period, (L5) is slightly polluted by human actvites (tourism and heavy down pour at Kerala led to a deluge and it badly nearby constructon works) with minimum shade cover afected the study areas. Riparian vegetaton was and moderate emergent vegetaton. Eighteen species totally destroyed. Natural soil texture was lost, soil were recorded during the survey. Orthetrum sabina accumulaton could be found in river and river banks. and Prodasineura vertcalis were the common species As a consequence, a sudden drop in damselfy diversity

Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2021 | 13(8): 19053–19059 19055 J TT Odonate fauna of midstream Chalakkudy River, Kerala Bose et al. Table 3. List of damselfies recorded from Chalakudy River. at Locaton 1. Simpson and Shannon diversity indices

Scientfc name IUCN Red (0.9197 and 2.628, respectvely) were found to be (Suborder: Zygoptera) Abundance List status equally high for locaton 2, while the least values were Family: shown by Locaton 6 (0.8694 and 2.191, respectvely). Neurobasis chinensis (Linnaeus, 1 R LC Maximum value of evenness (0.8257) was recorded at 1758) Locaton 3 and a minimum at Locaton 1. 2 Vestalis apicalis (Selys, 1873) VC & EN LC

3 (Rambur, 1842) C LC

Family: DISCUSSION 4 Libellago indica (Fraser, 1928) C & EN LC Heliocypha bisignata (Hagen in 5 R & EN LC Selys, 1853) The current study points out the role of natve Family: Coenagrionidae riparian vegetaton and the impact of human Aciagrion occidentale (Laidlaw, interference such as habitat alteraton by tourism, 6 R LC 1919) constructon works and plantatons on the density and 7 Agriocnemis pieris (Laidlaw, 1919) R LC diversity of odonate fauna. Studies revealed that riparian Agriocnemis pygmaea (Rambur, 8 R LC vegetaton promotes the occurrence of invertebrates 1842) including insects and facilitates suitable habitat for 9 Ischnura rubilio (Brauer, 1865) R LC insects by providing food, restng and hiding places for Pseudagrion indicum (Fraser, 10 O & EN DD 1924) emergent adults and substratum for egg laying. Also the Pseudagrion rubriceps (Selys, 11 C LC shade cover regulates water temperature and overall 1876) quality of the stream (Knight & Botorf 1981; Ober & Family: Euphaeidae Hayes 2008). Moreover, the prey insects are atracted 12 Dysphaea ethela (Fraser, 1924) VC & EN LC by fowering plants, which in turn form ideal food for Family: Platycnemididae odonates. Therefore, these conditons become more Copera marginipes ((Rambur, 13 R LC 1842) pertnent for the carnivorous odonates. The hanging 14 Copera vitata (Selys, 1863) R LC plants and emergent macrophytes furnish perching sites Prodasineura vertcalis (Selys, and structures for egg laying and emergence of adults. 15 VC LC 1860) Literature delineates the role of macrophytes and shoreline structures in ovipositon, formaton of larval microhabitat, emergence support and adult perching was notced just afer the food. Only two species of site (Samways & Steytler 1996; Schindler et al. 2003). damselfies were recorded in the frst two months In the present study 15 species of damselfies and 10 afer the food, i.e., September and October 2018. dragonfies were recorded. As the damselfies are weak But dragonfy diversity was not much afected. In the fiers, they may depend on their own microhabitat for succeeding months the species richness and abundance food and reproducton. But the agile fiers, dragonfies were observed to have rebounded. are free to move to more extensive habitats according Simpson & Shannon diversity indices and evenness to their preferences. This is a factor of variaton in values of the six locatons were calculated (Table 4). species richness between the two suborders. The most Maximum species richness and abundance were found commonly encountered dragonfy was Orthetrum

Table 4. Community structure of odonates.

L6 L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 Athirappilly Parameters/ Indices Ezhatumugham Chiklayi Ayyampuzha Vetlappara Athirappilly waterfall Species richness 21 17 15 17 18 12 No. of individuals (per 200m unit 536 363 284 501 377 125 sample) Simpson 1-D 0.8983 0.9197 0.9091 0.9121 0.9064 0.8694

Shannon H 2.518 2.628 2.517 2.561 2.545 2.191

Evenness 0.5907 0.8142 0.8257 0.7617 0.7079 0.7456

19056 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2021 | 13(8): 19053–19059 Odonate fauna of midstream Chalakkudy River, Kerala Bose et al. J TT

Image 1. Dysphaea ethela Image 2. Pseudagrion indicum

© Nitha Bose C Image 3. Libellago indica (male)

Image 4. Libellago indica (female)

Image 6. Heliocypha bisignata

Image 5. Vestalis apicalis

Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2021 | 13(8): 19053–19059 19057 J TT Odonate fauna of midstream Chalakkudy River, Kerala Bose et al. sabina, which predate on other insects and exhibits REFERENCES cannibalistc behavior too (Iswandaru 2018). Further, adequate quanttes of reeds support the occurrence of Adarsh, C.K., K.S. Aneesh & P.O. Nameer (2014). A preliminary damselfies than dragonfies (Fulan et al. 2008). In the checklist of odonates in Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) campus, Thrissur District, Kerala, southern India. Journal of Threatened Taxa present study, L1, L2, L4 and L5 locatons showed the 6(8): 6127–6137. htps://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3491.6127-37 maximum species richness, abundance and diversity. Bachan, A.K.H (2003).Riparian vegetaton along the middle Despite the human disturbances, L1 showed the highest andlower zones of theChalakkudy river, Kerala, India. 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Inspite of the Kalkman, V.J., V. Clausnitzer, K.D.B. Dijktra, A.G. Orr, D.R. Paulson & J.V. Tol (2008). Global diversity of dragonfies (Odonata) in destructve food during the current study, odonates freshwater.Hydrobiologia. 595: 351–363. htps://doi.org/10.1007/ showed a tendency to bounce back to pre-food s10750-007-9029-x conditons within a very short tme. Further studies are Kiran, C.G. & D. Raju (2013). Dragonfies and Damselfies of Kerala. Tropical Insttute of Ecological Sciences, Greenleaf Publicatons, required to authentcate the same. Kotayam, Kerala, India. Knight, A.W. & R. Botorf (1981). The importance of riparian vegetaton to stream ecosystems. In: Warner & K.M. Hendrix (eds.). California Riparian Systems Conference: Ecology, Conservaton, and Productve Management. University of California Press. Kulkarni, A.S. & K.A. Subramanian (2013). Habitat and seasonal

19058 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2021 | 13(8): 19053–19059 Odonate fauna of midstream Chalakkudy River, Kerala Bose et al. J TT

distributon of Odonata (Insecta) of Mula and Mutha river basins, Rodrigues, M.E., F.O. Roque, J.M.O. Quintero, J.C.C. Pena, D.C. Maharashtra, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 5(7): 4084–4095. Sousa & P.D.M. Junior (2016). Nonlinear responses in damselfy htps://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3253.4084-95 community along a gradient of habitat loss in a savanna landscape. Mathavan, S. & P.L. Miller (1989). A Collecton of Dragonfies Biological Conservaton 194: 113–120. htps://doi.org/10.1016/j. (Odonata) made in the Periyar Natonal Park, Kerala, South India, biocon.2015.12.001 in January 1988. Internatonal Odonatological Society, Bilthoven, Samways, M.J. & N.S. Steytler (1996). Dragonfy (Odonata) distributon Rapid communicatons (supplements) 10: 1–10 paterns in urban and forest landscapes, and recommendatons for Nair, V.P. (2017). Dragonfies: Additons to the Odonata (Insecta) fauna riparian management. Biological Conservaton 78(3): 279–288. of Varadoor, Kannur, Kerala, South India. Bugs R All #164. In: Zoo’s htps://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3207(96)00032-8 Print 32(11): 24–30. Schindler, M., C. Fesl & A. Chovanec (2003). Dragonfy associatons Ober, H.K. & J.P. Hayes (2008). Infuence of forest riparian vegetaton (Insecta: Odonata) in relaton to habitat variables: A multvariate on abundance and biomass of nocturnal fying insects. Forest approach. Hydrobiologia 497(1)169–180. htps://doi. Ecology and Management 256(5): 1124–1132. htps://doi. org/10.1023/A:1025476220081 org/10.1016/j.foreco.2008.06.010 Subramanian, K.A. (2007). Endemic Odonates of the Western Palot, M.J., C. Radhakrishnan & V.P. Soniya (2005).Odonata (Insecta) Ghats: Habitat distributon and conservaton. Odonata: Biology of diversity of rice feld habitat in Palakkad district, Kerala.Record of Dragonfies. Scientfc Publishers. Zoological Survey of India 104(Part 1-2): 71–77. Subramanian, K.A., S. Ali & T.V. Ramachandra (2008). Odonata as Radhakrishnan, C. (1997). Ecology and conservaton status of indicators of riparian ecosystem health a case study from south entomofauna of Malabar. Zoos’ Print 11: 2–5. western Karnataka, India .Fraseria (N.S.) 7 :83–95. Raghavan, R. (2019). Impact of 2018 Kerala foods on aquatc Susanth, C. & S.S. Anooj (2020). Checklist of Odonata of Wayanad biodiversity with special reference to single locaton endemic district, Kerala. Indian Journal of Entomology 82(2): 315–323. species. Report submited to the Kerala State Biodiversity Board. htps://doi.org/10.5958/0974-8172.2020.00072.3 Raghavan, R, G. Prasad, P.H.A. Ali & B. Pereira (2008). Fish fauna Tiple A.D., S. Paunikar & S.S. Talmale (2012). Dragonfies and of Chalakudy River, part of Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot, Damselfies (Odonata: Insecta) of Tropical Forest Research Insttute, Kerala, India: paterns of distributon, threats and conservaton Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Central India. Journal of Threatened Taxa needs. Biodiversity and Conservaton 17: 3119–3131. htps://doi. 4(4): 2529–2533. htps://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o2657.2529-33 org/10.1007/s10531-007-9293-0 Varghese, A.P., P.R. Nikesh & J. Mathew (2014). Odonata (Insecta) Rao, R. & A.R. Lahiri (1982). First records of odonates (Arthropoda: diversity of Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary and its adjacent areas in Insecta) from the Silent Valley and New Amarambalam Reserved Thatekkad, Kerala, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 6(6): 5887– Forests. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 79(3): 557– 5893. htps://doi.org/10.11609/JoTT.o3395.5887-93 562.

Threatened Taxa

Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 July 2021 | 13(8): 19053–19059 19059 The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by OPEN ACCESS publishing peer-reviewed artcles online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All artcles published in JoTT are registered under Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License unless otherwise mentoned. JoTT allows allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of artcles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton.

ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)

July 2021 | Vol. 13 | No. 8 | Pages: 18959–19190 Date of Publicaton: 26 July 2021 (Online & Print) www.threatenedtaxa.org DOI: 10.11609/jot.2021.13.8.18959-19190

Communicatons A preliminary checklist of dragonfies and damselfies (Insecta: Odonata) of Vakkom Grama Panchayath, Thiruvanthapuram District, Kerala, India Distributon and habitat preferences of the Chinese Pangolin Manis pentadactyla (Mammalia: – J. Arunima & P.O. Nameer, Pp. 19125–19136 Manidae) in the mid-hills of Nepal – Suman Acharya, Hari Prasad Sharma, Rajeev Bhatarai, Beeju Poudyal, Sonia Sharma & Suraj Diversity patern of buterfy communites (Lepidoptera) in diferent habitat types of Nahan, Upadhaya, Pp. 18959–18966 Himachal Pradesh, India – Suveena Thakur, Suneet Bahrdwaj & Amar Paul Singh, Pp. 19137–19143 On the occurrence of the Himalayan Wolf Canis lupus, L. 1758 (Mammalia: Carnivora: Canidae) in the Gaurishankar Conservaton Area, Nepal; its existence confrmed through sign and visual Descriptons of the early stages of Vagrans egista sinha (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) with notes on evidence in Rolwaling Valley its host plant Xylosma longifolia Clos from the western Himalaya of India – Bishnu Prasad Pandey, Shankar Man Thami, Rabin Shrestha & Mukesh Kumar Chalise, Pp. 18967– – Pranav Gokhale & M.A. Yathumon, Pp. 19144–19148 18974 Notes Group size, crowding, and age class compositon of the threatened Sambar Rusa unicolor (Kerr, 1792) (Mammalia: Cetartodactyla: Cervidae) in the semi-arid regions of northeastern Rajasthan, First photographic record of Mishmi Takin Budorcus taxicolor taxicolor and Red Goral India Nemorhaedus baileyi from Kamlang Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh, India – Deepak Rai & Kalpana, Pp. 18975–18985 – Cheshta Singh & Deept Gupta, Pp. 19149–19152

Study on the impacts of LULC change on the wildlife habitat and the livelihood of people in and Utlisaton of honey trap method to ensnare a dispersing sub-adult Bengal Tiger Panthera tgris around Dampa Tiger Reserve, Mizoram, India tgris L. in a human dominated landscape – Sushanto Gouda, Janmejay Sethy, Netrapal Singh Chauhan & Harendra Singh Bargali, Pp. 18986– – Gobind Sagar Bhardwaj, Balaji Kari & Arvind Mathur, Pp. 19153–19155 18992 First camera trap photographs of Indian Pangolin Manis crassicaudata (Mammalia: Pholidota: Characterisaton of breeding habitat of Grizzled Giant Squirrel Ratufa macroura (Mammalia: Manidae) from Pakistan Sciuridae) in Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Ghats, India – Misbah Bint Riaz, Faraz Akrim, Siddiqa Qasim, Syed Afaq Bukhari, Asad Aslam, Muhammad – Kiran Thomas & P.O. Nameer, Pp. 18993–19001 Waseem, Rizwana Imtaz & Tariq Mahmood, Pp. 19156–19158

Seasonal prey availability and diet compositon of Lesser Asiatc Yellow House Bat Scotophilus Photographic record of Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor (Aves: Phoenicopteridae) in kuhlii Leach, 1821 Ramganga river, Bareilly, India – Shani Kumar Bharty & Vadamalai Elangovan, Pp. 19002–19010 – Pichaimuthu Gangaiamaran, Afab A. Usmani, G.V. Gopi, S.A. Hussain & Khursid A. Khan, Pp. 19159–19161 Bird compositon, diversity and foraging guilds in agricultural landscapes: a case study from eastern Utar Pradesh, India Total length and head length relatonship in Mugger Crocodiles Crocodylus palustris (Reptlia: – Yashmita-Ulman & Manoj Singh, Pp. 19011–19028 Crocodilia: Crocodylidae) in Iran – Asghar Mobaraki, Elham Abtn, Malihe Erfani & Colin Stevenson, Pp. 19162–19164 Identfcaton of a unique barb from the dorsal body contour feathers of the Indian Pita Pita brachyura (Aves: Passeriformes: Pitdae) First record of the hoverfy Spilomyia Meigen (Diptera: Syrphidae) for Pakistan – Prateek Dey, Swapna Devi Ray, Sanjeev Kumar Sharma, Padmanabhan Pramod & Ram Pratap – Muhammad Asghar Hassan, Imran Bodlah, Riaz Hussain, Azan Karam, Fazlullah & Azaz Ahmad, Singh, Pp. 19029–19039 Pp. 19165–19167

Moths of the superfamily Gelechioidea (Microlepidoptera) from the Western Ghats of India Rediscovery of Watson’s Demon Stmula swinhoei swinhoei (Elwes & Edwards, 1897) – Amit Katewa & Prakash Chand Pathania, Pp. 19040–19052 (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae: Hesperiinae) in Meghalaya, India afer 60 years – Suman Bhowmik & Atanu Bora, Pp. 19168–19170 On the diversity and abundance of riparian odonate fauna (Insecta) of the midstream Chalakkudy River, Kerala, India A record of Ourapteryx dierli Inoue, 1994 (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Ennominae) from the – C. Nitha Bose, C.F. Binoy & Francy K. Kakkassery, Pp. 19053–19059 Garhwal Himalaya, India – Arun P. Singh & Lekhendra, Pp. 19171–19172 Species diversity and abundance paterns of epiphytc orchids in Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala, India Report of Bradinopyga konkanensis Joshi & Sawant, 2020 (Insecta: Odonata) from Kerala, India – Jis Sebastan, Durairaj Kathiresan & Giby Kuriakose, Pp. 19060–19069 – Muhammed Haneef, B. Raju Stven Crasta & A. Vivek Chandran, Pp. 19173–19176

Status and conservaton needs of Cycas pectnata Buch.-Ham. in its natural habitat at A new distributon record of Bianor angulosus (Karsch, 1879) (Araneae: Saltcidae) from Kerala, Baroiyadhala Natonal Park, Bangladesh India – M.K. Hossain, M.A. Hossain, S. Hossen, M.R. Rahman, M.I. Hossain, S.K. Nath & M.B.N. Siddiqui, – Nishi Babu, John T.D. Caleb & G. Prasad, Pp. 19177–19180 Pp. 19070–19078 Notes on lectotypifcaton of the Assam Ironwood Mesua assamica (King & Prain) Kosterm. Review (Calophyllaceae) – Prantk Sharma Baruah, Sachin Kumar Borthakur & Bhaben Tant, Pp. 19181–19184 Limitatons of current knowledge about the ecology of Grey Foxes hamper conservaton eforts – Maximilian L. Allen, Alexandra C. Avrin, Morgan J. Farmer, Laura S. Whipple, Emmarie P. Alexander, On the rediscovery of a rare root parasite Gleadovia ruborum Gamble & Prain (Orobanchaceae) Alyson M. Cervantes & Javan M. Bauder, Pp. 19079–19092 from Utarakhand, western Himalaya, India – Amit Kumar, Navendu V. Page, Bhupendra S. Adhikari, Manoj V. Nair & Gopal S. Rawat, Short Communicatons Pp. 19185–19188

On the freshwater fsh fauna of Krishna River, Sangli District, Maharashtra, India Occurrence of vivipary in Ophiorrhiza rugosa Wall. (Rubiaceae) – Suresh M. Kumbar, Shrikant S. Jadhav, Swapnali B. Lad, Abhijit B. Ghadage, Satyawan S. Patl & – Birina Bhuyan & Sanjib Baruah, Pp. 19189–19190 C. Shiva Shankar, Pp. 19093–19101

Diversity and distributon of the large centpedes (Chilopoda: Scolopendromorpha) in the Phia Oac - Phia Den Natonal Park, Vietnam Publisher & Host – Le Xuan Son, Nguyen Thi Tu Anh, Tran Thi Thanh Binh, Thu Anh T. Nguyen & Anh D. Nguyen, Pp. 19102–19107

Diversity of ants in Aarey Milk Colony, Mumbai, India – Akshay Gawade & Amol P. Patwardhan, Pp. 19108–19117

First record of ghost shrimp Corallianassa couterei (Nobili, 1904) (Decapoda: Axiidea: Callichiridae) from Indian waters – Piyush Vadher, Hitesh Kardani, Prakash Bambhaniya & Imtyaz Beleem, Pp. 19118–19124

Threatened Taxa