306 Notes on some collections of dragonflies from northern Madagascar Merlijn Jocque1,2,3*, Dan Slootmakers1, Siel Wellens1,3, Lily-Arison Rene De Roland4, John C. Mittermeier5 & Dale Wright6 1 Biodiversity Inventory for Conservation NPO (BINCO), Walmersumstraat 44, 3380 Glab- beek, Belgium; [email protected] 2 Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecology (ATECO), Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), Vautierstraat 29, 1000 Brussels, Belgium 3 Operation Wallacea Ltd, Wallace House, Old Bolingbroke, Lincolnshire, PE23 4EX, UK 4 The Peregrine Fund Madagascar, PO Box 4113, Antananarivo, Madagascar 5 School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Ox- ford, OX1 3QY, UK 6 BirdLife South Africa, Centre for Biodiversity Conservation, Kirstenbosch Botanical Gar- dens, Cape Town, South Africa * Corresponding author Abstract. The Madagascar dragonfly fauna remains poorly documented. We list dragonfly observations from two Rapid Biodiversity Surveys in Mahajanga Province, northern Mada- gascar. Surveyed sites include a coastal area with several lakes close to Mariarano sampled in 2016 and a montane forested area with isolated forest patches in the Mahimoborondro and Bemanevika protected areas in north-central Madagascar close to Bealalana sampled in 2019. A total of 40 species were collected with observations made on three species IUCN listed as data deficient:Tatocnemis sinuatipennis, Neodythemis cf. trinervulata, and Pseudagrion simile. Further key words. Dragonfly, damselfly, Anisoptera, Zygoptera, biodiversity, data deficient Introduction Madagascar is known as a place of rich biodiversity and high endemism owing to its long geographic isolation, proximity to the African continent and large area supporting a wide variety of habitats (Goodman et al. 2003). While our knowledge of many taxa is good, large gaps remain, especially for several invertebrate groups. Madagascan dragonflies first received attention in the work ofRambur (1842) and major contributions later included works by Schmidt (1951), Fraser (1956) and more recently Dijkstra (2021) and Dijkstra & Cohen (2021). This last forthcom- ing publication provides a good overview of the history of odonatological studies in Madagascar and summarizes the information available. Several species complexes need further study and the information regarding regional distribution of species is limited, hindering the development of a reliable Red List as a tool to prioritize conservation actions for dragonflies. In a bid to help fill some gaps on the map we present here dragonfly observations from fieldwork in two distinct locations in Mahajanga Province. Notulae odonatologicae 9(7)9(6) 2021:2020: 277-313306-313 – DOI:10.5281/zenodo.4746222 307 Material and methods Dragonflies in the wider Mariarano (Mahajanga District) area on the north-west side of Madagascar (Fig. 1, II) were surveyed in the dry period in the months July–August 2016. The landscape was mostly dry forest interspersed with lakes and minor wetlands. Odonates in the region north of Bealanana (Bealanana District) (Fig. 1, I) were surveyed in the rainy season from 29-i- till 14-ii-2019 in the for- ests of the Bemanevika and Mahimborondro Protected Areas in northern-central Madagascar. Dragonflies were collected on trips to the forest from camps from where the biodiversity surveys were organized. The landscape consisted of patches of montane forest in highland grasslands intersected by small rivers and isolated lakes in old volcanic craters. During both surveys dragonflies were collected on an opportunistic basis using insect nets. We sampled as wide a range of habitats as possible to obtain a good representation of the dragonflies that were active at the time of our surveys. Speci- mens were preserved in 70 % ethanol and subsequently identified by Rosser Garri- son from the California Department of Food & Ag riculture (Plant Pest Diagnostics Branch) in Sacramento, California, USA. After identification, part of the material was deposited in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, and part of the material was deposited in the personal collection of R. Garrison. List of localities with odonate records Indicated are (in that order) the localitity, administrative units on the level of re- gions and districts, geographic coordinates in decimal degrees, and altitude in me- ters above sea level. (1) 16 km NNE Bamanevika, Sofia, Bealanana (-14.3163, 48.723), 1 586 m a.s.l. (2) 16 km NNE Bamanevika, Sofia, Bealanana (-14.3553, 48.6085), 1 642 m a.s.l. (3) 11 km NNE Bamanevika, Sofia, Bealanana (-14.3234, 48.6751), 1 831 m a.s.l. (4) 16 km NNE Bamanevika, Sofia, Bealanana (-14.3503, 48.6096), 1 644 m a.s.l. (5) 16 km NNE Bamanevika, Sofia, Bealanana (-14.3483, 48.579), 1 582 m a.s.l. (6) 16 km NNE Bamanevika, Sofia, Bealanana (-14.2991, 48.7519), 1 652 m a.s.l. (7) 16 km NNE Bamanevika, Sofia, Bealanana (-14.361, 48.59), 1 557 m a.s.l. (8) 16 km NNE Bamanevika, Sofia, Bealanana (-14.3585, 48.6028), 1604 m a.s.l. (9) 4 km N Bamanevika, Sofia, Bealanana (-14.332, 48.589), 1 600 m a.s.l. (10) Maria rano, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.4993, 46.7104), 60 m. a.s.l. (11) Maria- rano, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.4873, 46.6999) 42 m. a.s.l. (12) Matsedroy, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.488, 46.6502), 26 m a.s.l. (13) Matsedroy, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.4524, 46.661), 26 m a.s.l. (14) Matsedroy, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.4778, 46.6689), 14 m a.s.l. (15) Matsedroy, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.4931, 46.65), 23 m a.s.l. (16) Matsedroy, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.4575, 46.6535), 22 m a.s.l. (17) Matsedroy, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.4878, 46.6472), 20 m a.s.l. (18) Matse- Notulae odonatologicae 9(7) 2021: 277-313 308 droy, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.4917, 46.6557), 35 m a.s.l (19) Matsedroy, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.4578, 46.6608), 18 m a.s.l. (20) Matsedroy, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.4816, 46.7412), 47 m a.s.l. (21) Matsedroy, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.4856, 46.6841) 11 m a.s.l. (22) Matsedroy, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.487, 46.6465), 35 m a.s.l. (23) Matsedroy, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.4653, 46.6452), 61 m a.s.l. Fig. 1. Geographical positions of collecting sites in northern Madagascar: (I) Bealanana area, (II) Mahajanga area. Notulae odonatologicae 9(7) 2021: 277-313 309 (24) Mariarano, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.455, 46.6912), 16 m a.s.l. (25) Maria- rano, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.4929, 46.6958) 20 m a.s.l. (26) Matsedroy, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.4793, 46.6373), 91 m. a.s.l. (27) Antafianeva, Boeny, Mahajanga II (-15.468, 46.7485), 14 m a.s.l. Results A total of 40 Odonata species were recorded from 27 sampling sites. All species were of ‘Least Concern’ (IUCN) except for three species currently classified as ‘Data Deficient’, viz. Tatocnemis sinuatipennis, Neodythemis cf. trinervulata, and Pseud­ agrion simile (cf. Schütte 2017a, 2017b, 2017c). Numbers in bold in parentheses correspond with the list of localities with odonate records. List of species recorded Lestidae 1. Lestes ochraceus unicolor McLachlan, 1895 (15) 2♂ (18) 1♂ 2. Lestes simulator McLachlan, 1895 (1) 7♂ (3) 1♂ (15) 2♂1♀ (16) 3♂1♀ (17) 1♂1♀ (18) 3♂1♀ (22) 4♂ Argiolestidae 3. Nesolestes martini Schmidt, 1951 (1) 6♂ (2) 1♂ (6) 1♂ (7) 2♂ Calopterygidae 4. Phaon rasoherinae Fraser, 1949 (10) 1♂ (11) 2♂1♀ (17) 1♂ Protolestidae 5. Protolestes fickei Förster, 1899 (8) 1♂ (6) 2♀ Tatocnemididae 6. Tatocnemis sinuatipennis (Selys, 1891) (8) 4♂6♀ Platycnemididae 7. Proplatycnemis alatipes (McLachlan, 1872) (1)1♂ (6) 1♂ (7) 2♂1♀ 8. Proplatycnemis malgassica (Schmidt, 1951) (14) 2♂2♀ (22) 1♂ Notulae odonatologicae 9(7) 2021: 277-313 310 Coenagrionidae 9. Africallagma rubristigma (Schmidt, 1951) (3) 1♂1♀ 10. Azuragrion kauderni (Sjöstedt, 1917) (1) 1♂ (7) 2♂ (12) 4♂1♀ (13) 1♂ (14) 3♂ (15) 22♂6♀ (16) 15♂3♀ (17) 30♂2♀ (18) 3♂ (19) 1♂ (22) 13♂ 11. Ceriagrion glabrum (Burmeister, 1839) (12) 4♂2♀ (13) 2♂5♀ (14) 2♂1♀ (15) 3♂3♀ (17) 7♂12♀ (18) 2♂4♀ (19) 2♂ (20) 1♂ (22) 5♂ 12. Ischnura senegalensis (Rambur, 1842) (15) 5♂15♀ (16) 1♀ (22) 2♂ 13. Pseudagrion punctum (Rambur, 1842) (14) 3♂ (18) 1♂ 14. Pseudagrion dispar Schmidt, 1951 (4) 1♂ 15. Pseudagrion malgassicum Schmidt, 1951 (14) 2♂ (16) 1♀ (21) 1♀ 16. Pseudagrion simile Schmidt, 1951 (4) 1♂ (6) 2♂ (8) 1♂ Aeshnidae 17. Anaciaeschna triangulifera McLachlan, 1896 Close to Antsohihy 18. Anax tumorifer McLachlan, 1885 (5) 2♂ Corduliidae 19. Hemicordulia similis (Rambur, 1842) (9) 1♂ Libellulidae 20. Acisoma attenboroughi Mens et al. 2016 (12) 1♂ (13) 1♂1♀ (17) 1♂ (19) 1♀ 21. Chalcostephia flavifrons Kirby, 1889 (23) 1♀ 22. Crocothemis erythraea (Brullé, 1832) (1) 2♀ (12) 2♂ (15) 1♂ (18) 1♂ 23. Diplacodes exilis Ris, 1911 (16) 1♂ (17) 1♂ 24. Diplacodes lefebvrii (Rambur, 1842) (12) 12♂7♀ (13) 3♂5♀ (14) 3♀ (15) 9♂8♀ (16) 13♂13♀ (17) 23♂36♀ (18) 7♂4♀ (19) 2♂5♀ (22) 8♂ (24) 1♂ Notulae odonatologicae 9(7) 2021: 277-313 311 25. Hemistigma affine (Rambur, 1842) (25) 1♀ (26) 1♂1♀ 26. Neodythemis hildebrandti Karsch, 1889 (1) 1♂ (7) 1♂1♀ 27. Neodythemis cf. trinervulata (Martin, 1902) (1) 1♂ 28. Orthetrum azureum (Rambur, 1842) (9) 1♂ 29. Orthetrum lemur Ris, 1909 (12) 2♀ (14) 1♂ (27) 1♂ 30. Orthetrum stemmale (Burmeister, 1839) (25) 2♂ 31. Orthetrum trinacria (Selys, 1841) (15) 1♂1♀ (18) 1♂1♀ (22) 1♂ 32. Palpopleura vestita Rambur, 1842 (1) 2♂ (9) 1♂ (27) 1♂ 33. Pantala flavescens (Fabricius, 1798) (22) 1♂ (24) 1♂ 34. Rhyothemis semihyalina (Desjardins, 1832) (12) 2♂ (16) 2♂ (17) 1♀ (22) 1♂ 35.