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| Lyriothemis keralensis Sawant, Chandran, Mathews & Kuntee, 2026 Slender Bombardier || DOI: doi.org/10.48156/1388.2026.1917364 |
Abstract
A new species of dragonfly, Lyriothemis keralensis sp. n. is described from the coastal plains adjoining the Western Ghats of Kerala, southern India, based on a male holotype (IBC-CD161) and a female paratype (IBC-CD310) (type specimens are deposited in the Biodiversity Lab Research Collections, currently held at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru). This taxon was hitherto misidentified as L. acigastra (Selys, 1878) from which it differs in having leaner abdomen, and differently shaped secondary genitalia and caudal appendages. Information on its biology and ecology are provided.
Keywords: Anisoptera, conservation, dragonfly, endemic, insect diversity, new species, taxonomy
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| Images of Lyriothemis spp. from the wild. (a) Lyriothemis keralensis sp. n. male (Kerala, India); (b) L. keralensis sp. n. female (Kerala, India); (c) L. acigastra male (Assam, India), ©Kumud Ghosh; (d) L. acigastra (Assam, India), ©Kumud Ghosh; (e) L. defonsekai male (Sinharaja Forest Reserve, Sri Lanka), ©Michael van der Poortan; (f) L. defonsekai female (Sinharaja Forest Reserve, Sri Lanka), ©Michael van der Poortan. |
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| Lyriothemis keralensis sp. n. habits and habitat. (a) Type locality (Varapetty, Kerala, India); (b) a pair in copula, ©Jeevan Jose; (c) female ovipositing in a vegetated region of irrigation canal. |
Lyriothemis keralensis sp. n.
Dattaprasad Sawant, A. Vivek Chandran, Renjith Jacob Mathews and Krushnamegh Kuntee. 2026. Description of Lyriothemis keralensis sp. n. (Odonata: Libellulidae) from the southwestern coast of India. International Journal of Odonatology. 29; 19-36. DOI: doi.org/10.48156/1388.2026.1917364 [7 February 2026]
