PLATINUM The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by publishing peer-reviewed artcles online OPEN ACCESS 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. Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Communication Ceriagrion chromothorax sp. nov. (Odonata: Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae) from Sindhudurg, Maharashtra, India Shantanu Joshi & Dataprasad Sawant 26 May 2019 | Vol. 11 | No. 7 | Pages: 13875–13885 DOI: 10.11609/jot.4753.11.7.13875-13885 For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies, and Guidelines visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Artcle Submission Guidelines, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientfc Misconduct, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints, contact <[email protected]> The opinions expressed by the authors do not refect the views of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, Wildlife Informaton Liaison Development Society, Zoo Outreach Organizaton, or any of the partners. The journal, the publisher, the host, and the part- Publisher & Host ners are not responsible for the accuracy of the politcal boundaries shown in the maps by the authors. Partner Member Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 May 2019 | 11(7): 13875–13885 Ceriagrion chromothorax sp. nov. (Odonata: Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae) from Sindhudurg, Maharashtra, India Communication Shantanu Joshi 1 & Dataprasad Sawant 2 ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 1 Natonal Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Insttute of Fundamental Research, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Kodigehalli, PLATINUM Bengaluru, Karnataka 560097, India. 2 Grant Medical College & Sir JJ Group of Hospitals, Noor Baug, Mazgaon, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400008, India. OPEN ACCESS 1 [email protected] (corresponding author), 2 [email protected] Abstract: Ceriagrion chromothorax sp. nov. is described from Western Ghats, India, based on six males and one female collected from Sindhudurg District of Maharashtra. Keywords: Damselfy, Devgad, new species, Sindhudurg Marsh Dart, taxonomy, Western Ghats. DOI: htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.4753.11.7.13875-13885 | ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:3CF52DFE-06BF-4677-87C3-6E9C430BADD0 Editor: Anonymity requested. Date of publicaton: 26 May 2019 (online & print) Manuscript details: #4753 | Received 10 December 2018 | Final received 10 May 2019 | Finally accepted 13 May 2019 Citaton: Joshi, S. & D. Sawant (2019). Ceriagrion chromothorax sp. nov. (Odonata: Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae) from Sindhudurg, Maharashtra, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 11(7): 13875–13885. htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.4753.11.7.13875-13885 Copyright: © Joshi & Sawant 2019. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Funding: This study was self-funded, with support from Research Collectons, Natonal Centre for Biological Collectons, Bangalore. Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests. Author Details: Shantanu Joshi is a researcher interested in studying ecology and diversity of odonates in India. He’s the founding editor of the website Odonata of India and curator of odonates at Research Collectons, Natonal Centre for Biological Collectons, Bangalore. Currently, he’s pursuing a Master’s degree in Biodiversity, Wildlife Conservaton and Management from Bhavan’s College, Bhartya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai. Dattaprasad Sawant is a Doctor by profession and graduated from Grant Govt Medical College & Sir JJ Group of Hospitals, Mumbai. He is pursuing his MD in Preventve and Social Medicine. He is self taught photographer and currently working on documentng biodiversity of Lepidoptera & Odonates of Konkan region. Author Contributon: DS took all the photographs from feld, collected the specimens, made illustratons and helped in writng the manuscript. SJ wrote the manuscript and made the close-up images of anal appendages, genitalia and prothorax. Acknowledgements: We thank Krushnamegh Kunte (NCBS, Bangalore) for his contnued support; and Oleg Kosterin, Akihiko Sasamato, and Noppadon Makbun who provided comments and relevant literature. Special thanks to: Paresh Churi for the illustraton of holotype genital ligula (Figure 1), and Dennis Farrell for his image of C. indochinense male (Image 8c). 13875 Ceriagrion chromothorax sp. nov. Joshi & Sawant INTRODUCTION Ceriagrion chromothorax sp. nov. (Images 1a,b, 2a,b, 3a,b,c, 4a) Ceriagrion is a diverse and widespread genus of urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:78B8744D-467C-4B5E-A393-73BDE57A6BC9 damselfies (Zygoptera) within the family Coenagrionidae with 51 species (Schorr & Paulson 2018). This genus Common name: Sindhudurg Marsh Dart. consists of many closely related species, which are Holotype: Male (NCBS-BB921), 4.viii.2017, difcult to diagnose without thorough examinaton of Vimaleshwar, Devgad, Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra, the prothorax and male genital ligula (Asahina 1967; India, (16.4330N & 73.3950E; elevaton ~27m), Dijkstra 2005). Asahina (1967) provided a review of this Dataprasad Sawant leg. genus from the Oriental region, which stll remains the The locality and collector of the following allotype most complete account. and paratypes are same as holotype, except date of Four species of Ceriagrion are currently known from collecton. the Western Ghats of India (Fraser 1933a; Subramanian Allotype: Female (NCBS-BH969), 16.viii.2018. & Babu 2017; Subramanian et al. 2018). Here we Paratypes: 2 males (NCBS-BB922, NCBS-BB923), describe a ffh species—Ceriagrion chromothorax 27.ix.2017; 1 male (NCBS-BH970, collected in copula sp. nov. from Vimaleshwar, Sindhudurg District, with allotype female), 16.viii.2018; 2 males (NCBS- Maharashtra. This species is morphologically similar to BH971, NCBS-BH972), 19.viii.2018. Ceriagrion coromandelianum (Fabricius, 1798), and C. Etymology: The name ‘chromothorax’ is given for the indochinense Asahina, 1967, but can be distnguished bright yellow (=chromo) thoracic coloraton (Image 1). from them by its chrome yellow synthorax, structure of the prothorax, and the shape of caudal appendages. Descripton of holotype male (Images 1–5) Head: Labium dark brown; labrum, anteclypeus, postclypeus, postrons yellow, upper half of MATERIALS AND METHODS antefrons brown, rest yellow. Vertex and postocular lobes pale yellow; eyes olive green. The new species was frst photographed in August Prothorax (Image 4): Yellow; anterior lobe with paired 2017. Subsequently, DS collected three males in black marking dorsally, extending from the anterior August and September 2017, a copula along with border of latero-medial lobes; posterior lobe of the two more males was collected in August 2018. The prothorax fat at the anterior border and medially, raised collected specimens were examined using Leica (Leica at the posterior border and laterally; posterior border Microsystems, Germany) stereomicroscopes for close trilobate; the posterior border of the central lobe not up imaging. Multple images were stacked to generate straight. greater depth of feld; scale bars were added using Leica Synthorax (Images 1&2a): Mesostgmal plates: Applicaton Suite (Leica Microsystems, Germany) or lateral carina shaped half-hexagon, pointed anteriorly; ImageJ (Schneider et al. 2012). anterior carina robust, broader at the meetng point The general morphological terms are following with lateral carina; lateral carina not extending beyond Garrison et al. (2010), and Riek & Kukalova-Peck (1984) acrotergite; posterior carina rudimentary not extending was referred for wing venaton terminology, along with even halfway from lateral carina to median pit; Kennedy (1920) for genital ligula and Asahina (1967) for mesostgmal lamina raised; remus large; anterior carina prothorax. and anterior 1/3rd of lateral carina black. Synthorax The holotype has been pinned, while the two bright yellow in live individuals, due to the fash used paratypes were preserved in ethanol. Specimens are while photographing dorsum appears olive green in deposited at the Research Collectons, Natonal Centre some individuals; slightly darker on dorsum paler yellow for Biological Sciences, Bangalore. ventrally, black spots at the posterior end of meta and The following abbreviatons are used in the text: FW mesopleural sutures, small black spot at the juncton = fore wing, HW = hind wing, Ax & Px= antenodal and of mesepimeron and metepisternum, 45 degrees postnodal nervures, Pt= pterostgma, S1:S10= frst to from metastgma. Mesocoxa and metacoxa dull with last abdominal segments. faint pruinescence. Legs bright yellow, gradually pale brown towards the claws; small black dot at base of femur on the posterior side; base of the claws black; femur and tbia with large black spines. Metascutum 13876 Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 May 2019 | 11(7): 13875–13885 Ceriagrion chromothorax sp. nov. Joshi & Sawant © Dataprasad Sawant Image 1. Ceriagrion chromothorax