Nososticta

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Nososticta
Nososticta solitaria

Nososticta solitaria

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Dragonflies (Odonata)
Subordination : Dragonfly (Zygoptera)
Superfamily : Coenagrionoidea
Family : Feather dragonflies (Platycnemididae)
Genre : Nososticta
Scientific name
Nososticta
Hagen in Selys , 1860

Nososticta ,called Threadtails in Australia , is a genus of the family of feather dragonflies (Platycnemididae) with around 80 species (as of 2020). They live in Australia, New Guinea and the island world of Southeast Asia.

description

Nososticta species are slender, small to, more rarely, medium-sized dragonflies. They are black in the basic color and have a species-specific colorful pattern of green, blue, orange-red or whitish-yellow spots and bands, with the males the trunk section is always striped in color. The wings are crystal clear (hyaline), rarely a little yellowish tint. The species are morphologically similar and can be identified by the colored drawing and the shape of the abdominal appendages of the males up to the species.

In Australia and New Guinea , Nososticta is the only genus from the subfamily Disparoneurinae. It can be distinguished from the slender dragonflies (Coenagrionidae) widespread here by the missing anal vein in the wing veins. The vein CuP (Cubitus Posterior) is characteristically very short in the Australian and New Guinea species, it reaches the wing edge in the first wing cell following the discoid cell in the fore and hind wing. In the species of the Sunda Islands this vein is longer in the hind wing and only joins the wing edge in the next cell.

Larvae

The larvae of most species are unknown. The species with known larval morphology can be distinguished from larvae of the Coenagrionidae mainly by the shape of the trap mask . The prementum has only a single pair of bristles on the inside. The area of ​​the ligula has no central incision, but is drawn forward in a semicircle. The head corners behind the complex eyes are also simply rounded and the main tracheal vein of the gill leaflets protrudes conspicuously to the side. The types of the genus are usually indistinguishable as larva.

Habitat and way of life

Nososticta species normally fly over small running waters , often forest streams, where, as far as is known, their larvae live. Some species apparently prefer areas with weakly flowing or standing water, such as spring pools and switched-on ponds and small lakes. In Australia, it is not uncommon to find them on rivers that largely dry out in summer, leaving only isolated residual ponds in pools and depressions. The species Nososticta impercepta from the island of Timor was found at springs. In New Guinea they prefer forest streams on the plains and the hill country, but they also occur in larger rivers there. In some places numerous species of the genus can be found side by side, such as eight species on a single small forest stream.

distribution

The genus is known from northern and western Australia, New Guinea and the neighboring islands to the west, such as the Solomon Islands , Moluccas , Sulawesi and the Lesser Sunda Islands . As far as is known, the distribution limit in the west is on Groß Nikobar in the Bay of Bengal . The genus is absent on the Asian mainland.

Phylogeny and Systematics

The genus was first described by Hermann August Hagen in the work Synopsis des Agrionines. Dernière légion: Protoneura by the Belgian naturalist Edmond de Selys-Longchamps . The previously differentiated genus Notoneura was synonymous with Nososticta . For a long time the genus was classified in the Protoneuridae family, where the Asian species formed a subfamily Disparoneurinae. In 2008 Frank Louis Carle and colleagues showed, mainly on the basis of genetic characteristics, that the Protoneuridae defined in this way do not form a monophyletic group. Instead, the Disparoneurinae belonged to the family of feather dragonflies (Platycnemidae); this view has prevailed. According to recent studies, the genus Elattoneura , which is common in Africa and Asia, could form its sister group.

According to the World Odonata List (as of August 19, 2020), the genus includes 81 described species. Since new species are constantly being described, this is probably only an interim result.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Günther Theischinger and John Hawking: The complete field guide to dragonflies of Australia. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia 2006. ISBN 0 643 09073 8 .
  2. ↑ a b V.J. Kalkman & AG Orr (2013): Field Guide to the damselflies of New Guinea. Brachytron 16 Supplement: 3-120.
  3. ↑ Malte Seehausen, Gunther Teischinger (2017): Nososticta impercepta sp. nov. (Odonata: Platycnemididae) from Timor, with a key to the Sundaic species. Zootaxa 4250 (3): 262-274. doi: 10.11646 / zootaxa.42450.3.4 .
  4. ↑ G. Theischinger & I. Endersby (2014): Australian Dragonfly (Odonata) Larvae: Descriptive history and identification. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 72: 73-120.
  5. ↑ Malte Seehausen, Rui Miguel da Silva Pinto, Colin Richard Trainor & Jafet Potenzo Lopes (2018): Further records of Odonata from Timor Island, with the first photographs of living Nososticta impercepta (Odonata: Platycnemididae) and additional records from Rote and Romang Islands . Faunistic Studies in Southeast Asian and Pacific Island Odonata 25: 1-73.
  6. Jump up ↑ Günther Theischinger & Stephen J. Richards (2016): Six new species of Nososticta Hagen, 1860 from Papua New Guinea (Odonata: Platycnemididae). Odonatologica 45 (3/4): 291-316. doi: 10.5281 / zenodo.163453
  7. ↑ S. Rajeshkumar, C. Raghunatan, Kailash Chandra (2017): Nososticta nicobarica sp. nov. (Odonata: Platycnemididae: Disparoneurinae) from Great Nicobar Island, India. Zootaxa 4311 (3): 426-434. doi: 10.11646 / zootaxa.4311.3.8
  8. ↑ JAL Watson & G.Theischinger (1983): The Australian Protoneurinae (Odonata). Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series 98: 1-51.
  9. ^ Frank Louis Carle, Karl M. Kjer, Michael L. May (2008): Evolution of Odonata, with special reference to Coenagrionoidea (Zygoptera). Arthropods Systematic and Phylogeny 66 (1): 37-44.
  10. ^ Klaas-Douwe Benediktus Dijkstra, Vincent J. Kalkman, Rory A. Dow, Frank R. Stokvis, Jan van Tol (2014): Redefining the damselfly families: a comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Zygoptera (Odonata). Systematic Entomology 39 (1): 68-96, doi: 10.1111 / syen.12035 .
  11. ^ World Odonata List . edited by Dennis Paulson & Martin Schorr. by Slater Museum of Natural History, University of Puget Sound, as of August 19, 2020.