The enigmatic Antillean damselfly genus Hypolestes (Zygoptera:
Megapodagrionidae)
S.W. Dunkle
International Odonata Research Institute, P.O. Box 1269, Gainesville, Florida 32602-1269,United
States
Abstract — 3 taxa of Hypolestes can be re- Results
trinitatis cognized by penis morphology: The penes of Hypolestes from each of the three
Gundlach, 1888 occurring on Cuba, clara islands of its occurrence are distinct, with a
and both (Calvert, 1891) on Jamaica, possibly basic plan of 4 projecting fingers,aterminal pair of these taxa another and plus unnamed one on a lateral pair. Cuban males ( trinitatis) show
These taxa mightrepresent 3 spp.,3 terminal and recurved Hispaniola. nearly straight processes,
2 of them with 2 More sspp., or spp, one sspp. lateral processes. Jamaican males (clara) show
from Haiti needed to solve the decurved terminal and lateral specimens are processes pro- problem. cesses curled anteriorly at their tips. Most males
from Hispaniola (Taxon X) have decurved ter-
Introduction minal and short lateral processes straight pro-
After collecting a number of Hypolestes in the cesses with flattened abruptly expanded tips.
Dominican and to KENNEDY illustrated the ofclara Republic, attempting (1920) penes identify them, I discovered that the described from Jamaica and trinitatis from Cuba. The taxa were remarkably similar and that cha- abdominal appendages of 176 males I studied racters in literature used the were inadequateto were so variable that 1 could not be certain
them. is restricted to 3 of male separate Hypolestes which island a came from by examining the Greater Antilles: Cuba, Jamaica, and Hi- only those.
the males the spaniola. Among studied was holotype of 98 Notul. odonatol.,Vol. 3, No. 7, pp. 97-112, June 1, 1991
clara from and the ofabbotti in life ofboth black Jamaica, holotype eyes sexes are dorsally, pale
from (Calvert, 1893), described from one male green ventrally.
Haiti. H. abbotti was synonymized by
CALVERT (1919), I think correctly, with tri- Discussion
nitatis from Cuba. Was the holotype of abbotti Females and larvae from the three islands of
really collected from Haiti? occurrence appear morphologically identical,
Another male and thus studied, from near Furcy on are no help at present in delimiting
the SW peninsula of Haiti, has a penis like species of Hypolestes. Is Taxon X a species or is
Jamaican clara. This male in the Florida State it a subspecies of trinitatis? If both clara and
collected M.J. Collection of Arthropods was by trinitatis are confirmed to occur on Hispaniola,
Jr who remembers male If Westfall, catching one then all 3 taxa are probably species. trinitatis
at that locality (pers. comm.), which is now in but not clara is confirmed on Hispaniola, this
alcohol this male all with its separated penis. Could would also indicate that probably 3 are
been be mislabelled? Could its penis have species (because the penis of clara is the most
1 switched with a Jamaican males’s? believe the different of all the taxa). If clara but not tri-
answer is no to both questions, but can not be nitalis is confirmed on Hispaniola,then clara is
the SW certain. H. clara on peninsula of Haiti probably a species, but Taxon X might be a
makes because that land some sense was a subspecies of trinitatis. For the present, it seems
X separate island located closer to Jamaica until it best to regard Taxon as a form of trinitatis,
drifted into contact with the rest of and which Hispaniola clara as a species occurs allopa-
& 10 million years ago or less (BURGESS trically on Hispaniola with trinitatis.
FRANZ, 1989), NEEDHAM (1941) collected Besides the above, Hypolestes is enigmatic in
in Palomino the end its familial classification. Various authors have Hypolestes canyon on east
of the old southern Hispaniola island. I studied placed it in Lestidae, Amphipterygidae,Pseudo-
9 of those males and found that they were lestidae, Hypolestidae, and Megapodagri-
Taxon X, which occurs widely in northern onidae! The last placement was by DAVIES &
Hispaniola, not clara as stated by Needham, or TOBIN (1984). This is substantiated by the close
intergrades with clara. McLACHLAN (1895) similarity between the larvae of Hypolestes and
also recorded clara from He 2 of the latter Hispaniola. gave Oxystigma petiolatum (Selys), a
males to CALVERT (1909) who agreed that typical megapodagrionid.Larvae of Hypolestes
but 1 the of they were clara, examined penes the were described by NEEDHAM (1911, 1941)
same 2 males and found that they were Taxon and ALAYO(1985), while thatof O. petiolatum
X. Thus, although male Hypolestes with 3 types was described by GEIJSKES (1943).
been taken The well known. of penes have supposedly on biology of Hypolestes is not
Hispaniola, only Taxon X is widespread and NEEDHAM (1941) noted (ofTaxon X): The
common. The Hispaniolan record for clara adult Hypolestes is easy to catch; the easiest of
for 1 comes only from the Furcy male, the record all the Odonata that have ever taken. It sits
trinitatis is derived only from the holotype of quietly in the shade with wings outspread, and
abbotti. when flushed from one resting place it flies
Study of the large series of male Hypolestes quickly to another near by; and instead of
above showed how the teneral pattern ofyellow seeking the shelter of denser vegetation, it
markings almost entirely disappears with matu- perches again, apparently by preference on the
” ration. The last areas to darken are, in sequence, most exposed leaf... I concurwith Needham's
the streak above the pale metaspirade,a spot on observations, and can add that I saw (also
the metepimeron,the mandibles,and the lateral Taxon X) a pair in copulation on streamside
abdominal 3. The and in tandem streak on segment pale vegetation, a pair ovipositing at
each lateral ocellus does the surface in debris the orange spot lateral to water leafy among
the rocks small not darken. Gray pruinosity first appears on of a shady mountain stream, the
abdominal then the usual head and segments 9-10, on habitat of Hypolestes.
thorax. the above The pruinosity of clara is somewhat Solving some of problems outlined
thicker and whiter than in the other taxa. The involves more collectingin Haiti while there still Notul. odonatol., Vol. 3, No. 7, pp. 97-112, June 1, 1991 99
may be Hypolestes habitat there, and a DNA or 1989, Zoogeographyof the Antillean freshwater protein study relating the taxa of the genus to fish fauna, in: C. Woods, [Ed.], Biogeography each other and to other genera. Behavioral ofthe West Indies, pp. 263-304, Sandhill Crane
if — studies look as they would be relatively easy Press, Gainesville, Florida; CALVERT, to do, and would be well warranted on this ap- P.P., 1909, Ann. Carnegie Mus. 6; 73-280; — parently primitive relict insect. 1919, Trans. Am. enl. Soc. 45: 335-396; —
DAVIES, D.A.L. & P. TOBIN, 1984, S.l.O.
I Acknowledgements — am grateful to Rapid Comm. (Suppl.) 3; 1-127; — GE1JSKES,
MINTER WESTFALL for access to preli- D.C., 1943, Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 36: 165-184;— minary work on Hypolestes by himself and KENNEDY, C.H., 1920, Ohio], Sci. 21: 19-29;
KENNETH Ann. nat. TENNESSEN, as well as access to — R., 1895, Mag. borrowed types. I also thank him and Hist. 91; 19-28; — NEEDHAM, J.G., 1911,
GEORGE and JUANDA BICK for critiquing Ent. News 22: 145-154;— 1941, J. Agr. Univ. the manuscript. Puerto Rico 25: 1-18.
References ALAYO S., 1985, Cien. biol. 14: Received September 14, 1990
111-113; — BURGESS, G.H. & R. FRANZ,