Coenagrion australocaspicum Dumont & Heidari 1996
Creators: name: Kosterin, Oleg E.
name: Onishko, Vladimir V.
name: Ilyina, Elena V.
name: Chepurnov, Grigory Yu.
name: Blinov, Alexander G.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Odonata
Coenagrionidae
Coenagrion
Coenagrion australocaspicum

description: 1. Coenagrion australocaspicum Dumont & Heidari, 1996
Figs 2a–c, 3a–c, 4a–b, 5f, 6, 7a
Reported (as Coenagrion (puella) sp2) from: the Samurskiy Zakaznik Stationary environs, Magaramkent District of Dagestan (Ilyina et al. 2022).
Specimens. Republic of Dagestan: ♂, Babayurt District, the Terek River right bank at Khamamatyurt village, 43.612 N, 46.455 E, 10 m a.s.l., 8.06.2023, E. Ilyina leg.; ♂, Kumtorkala District, the Shura-Ozen’ River at Kumtorkala Station, next to Sarykum Barkhan, 42.997 –43.006 N, 47.223– 47.246 E, 65–80 m a.s.l., 3.05.2021, E. Ilyina leg.; ♂ (Figs 2c, 3c) (196433669, 196426386), the same place, 29.06.2021; ♂ (teneral) (196427366), Derbent District, 3.5 km NE of Belidzhi village, thickets at a swamp, 41.9048 N, 48.4452 E, 16–18 m below s.l., 25.05.2023; 10 ♂♂ (Figs 2a–b, 3a–b, 4a–b, 5f), 3 ♀♀ (Fig. 7a) (196425390, 196425415, 196425436, 196425479 (Fig. 6g), 196425508, 196425543, 196425590, 196425634, 196425653, 196425691, 196425722, 196425755, 196425780, 196425808, 196425854, 196425868, 196425900), Magaramkent District, Samur Delta Forest, 2 km NW of Primorskiy village, environs of Samurskiy Zakaznik Stationary, a swampy overgrown estuary of a forest rivulet and a nearby forest road, 41.8619 –41.8650 N, 48.5539– 48.5592 E, 16 m below s.l., 24.06.2021; 8 ♂♂, 7 ♀♀ (196427413, 196427432, 196427528, 196427547 (Fig. 6h), 196427578, 196432921 (Fig. 6f); 196503424 (Fig. 6c)), the same place, 41.8634 – 41.8653 N, 48.5530 – 48.5563 E, 18–20 m below s.l., 26.05.2023; 4 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀ (196430322 (Fig. 6i), 196430351, 196430424, 196430513, 196430593, 196430622 (Fig. 6d), 196430665, 196430702, 196430744, 196430788, 196430823, 196430891, 196431009, 196431069, 196431104, 196431208, 196431263, 196431305, 196431337, 196431381, 196433323 (Fig. 6a), 196431926, 196431963, 196432017, 196432083, 196432115, 196432155), the same place, 27.05.2023; 2 ♂♂, Magaramkent District, Samur Delta Forest, 3 km NW of Primorskiy village, environs of Samurskiy Zakaznik Stationary (broadly the same place as above), a coastal lake and nearby meadows, 41.8524 –41.8669 N, 48.5494– 48.5674 E, 2–29 m below s.l., 28.06.2022, E. Ilyina leg.; 14 ♂♂, ♀ (196432912, 196432913, 196432914, 196432915, 196432917 (Fig. 6b), 196432918, 196432920), Magaramkent District, Samur Delta forest, at the 700 years old plane tree, 41.8710 N, 48.5382 E, 15 m below s.l., 26.05.2023.
Additional photographic registrations. Republic of Dagestan: ♂♂, ♀♀ (196426531, 196426558, 196426592, 196426638), Magaramkent District, Samur Delta Forest, 2 km NW of Primorskiy village, environs of Samurskiy Zakaznik Stationary, a swampy overgrown estuary of a forest rivulet, 41.8619 –41.8630 N, 48.5576– 48.5592 E, 16– 18 m below s.l., 24.06.2021; ♂♂, ♀♀ (196425929, 196425961, 196426001, 196426083, 196426117, 196426145, 196426182 (Fig. 6j), 196426298, 196426322, 196432235, 196432236, 196432237, 196432239, 196432240, 196432241, 196432243, 196432244, 196432245), the same place, 26.06.2021; ♂♂, ♀♀ (196431432, 196431467, 196431500, 196431519, 196431595, 196431732, 196431756, 196431799 (Fig. 6e)), the same place, 28.05.2023; copula (196432247, Fig. 6k)), Magaramkent District, Samur Delta Forest, 3 km NW of Primorskiy village, the SE bank of a coastal lake, 41.8668 N, 48.558 E, 29 m below s.l., 26.06.2021; ♂♂, ♀♀ (196427626, 196428813, 196428891, 196428956, 196428980, 196429008, 196429029, 196429061, 196429094, 196429172, 196429235, 196429278, 196429336, 196429394, 196429463, 196429541, 196429578, 196429724, 196429748), Magaramkent District, Samur Delta Forest, 3.5 km NW of Primorskiy village, bushy meadows at the NW bank of a coastal lake, 41.8709–8755 N, 48.5409–5459 E, 20 m below s.l., 26.06.2021.
Characters. Male cercus trunk in dorsal view (Fig. 2a–c) evenly thick, with a very gentle convection in place of bulge (so their bases do not touch each other), rather long. In lateral view (Fig. 3a–c) it is smoothly rounded, without an expressed apex. Tubercle in dorsal view (Fig. 2a–c) of the same width as trunk and looks like its continuation, rather elongate, in lateral view (Fig. 3a–c) always well seen, never hidden behind paraprocts. (It should be noted that the specimen shown in Figs 1 (left), 2b and 3b has dead with abnormally expanded cerci, while Figs 2a,c and 3a,c show their normal downward position. Nevertheless, the above described characters are well seen in Figs 2b and 3b as well.) Tooth small, normally not seen in dorsal view unless cerci are unusually expanded as in Fig. 2b, disposed at ca 3/4 of the trunk length. Process broadly triangular, somewhat hooked inside apically but rather blunt, reaching about the middle of the height of the paraproct base (Fig. 4a–b).
Paraproct spine very long, directed strictly caudad in lateral view (Fig. 3a–c) where is ca 5/6 as long as S10 (as measured along the line of its dorsal side); spines diverging and slightly hooked in at tips dorsal view. Prominence weakly expressed as resembling a rounded right angle, incision between spine and prominense not expressed. S 10 in caudal view looks more flattened above (Fig. 4a–b) as compared to other species.
Male pronotum hind margin almost straight, with negligible, very shallow lateral depressions and a very slight median incision (Fig. 5f).
Male abdomen is somewhat relatively longer than in C. puella, coloured as in that species but S9 blue with (Fig. 6a, 6c) or without (Fig. 6b) a pair of black dots or (rarely) black triangular marks (Fig. 6c), but never with a posterior black bar. S10 black dorsally and blue laterally.
Female pronotum hind lobe margin almost straight when seen flat, perpendicularly to its surface, that is anteriodorsally with respect to the insect body axis, (Fig. 7a, below), but is slightly wavy as can be seen in the dorsal view with respect to the insect body axis (Fig. 7a, above).
As usual in the genus, females are polymorphic for the coloration pattern. Most frequent is the dark morph which resembles the corresponding morph in C. puella, with most of the abdomen dorsum black, with only expression of pale rings at S8–10 varying to complete disappearance (Fig. 6d–e). Less frequent is a spotty morph, also paralleled by the analogous morph of C. puella, with anterior parts of most abdominal segments pale (Fig. 6f–h). However, in these morphs, the pale ground colour occupies a larger area on S8 than in C. puella, varying from a large bipartite anterior pale spots (Fig. 6f–j) to, rather infrequently, S8 being pale with a black streak (Fig. 6h), often of the horseshoe shape—this version resembles females of rather C. pulchellum than C. puella. The extreme version of the spotty morph are extra-pale females the maculation of which rather resembles males of Enallahma cyathigerum (Charpentier, 1840): with a black arrowhead mark on S2, black spots in the posterior parts of S2–7, producing one to three processes in the anterior direction, a paired black mark on S8 and S9–10 black at dorsum (Fig. 6i). The ground pale colour varies (Fig. 6d–i), at least in part with age, from pale greyish (Fig. 6h), sometime pale orange, to blue (Fig. 6e, g), often this is grey but with the anteriodorsal part of the abdominal segments blue (Fig. 6i). However, in mature blue females, the antehumeral stripes are usually green, as well as the eye lower part (Fig. 6e, g, j–k).
Distribution and habitat. Found in the Russian Caucasus only in Dagestan, in the coastal plains of both southern (Samur Delta Forest) and northern (Khamamatyurt) Dagestan and in the foothills near the famous Sarykum Barkhan (the Shura-Ozen’ River). However, the Khamamatyurt locality is situated at the right bank of the Terek River which serves there as the border with Chechen Republic, where the species certainly occurs as well. The latter is the northermost known locality of this species in the world, of 43.6 N. Beyond Russia, the species is known to occur along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea in Iran and in the coastal Lankoran and Kachmaz Districts of Azerbaijan (Dumont & Heidari 1996; Dumont 2004; Boudot et al. 2021; Snegovaya 2024). In the latter district it was near Şollar (Dumont 2004) and Narban (Snegovaya 2024) villages, the latter being situated near the Russian border, just 12 km south-east from our closest findings of this species in Samur Delta Forest.
These damselflies were invariably found near slow flowing overgrown brooks. They often concentrate at forest roads and margins (and also around an old plane tree surrounded by a meadow in dozen metres apart from water). A very abundant population was found in the Samur Delta Forest, composed of tall oak and hornbeam trees woven with many lianas, which grow, below the conventional sea level at the Caspian Sea coast, in the semidesert zone because the delta of the large Samur River forms a number of fast and cold arms locally called ‘Karasu’. In that forest, this species seems to nearly segregate with the visually very similar C. puella, with just one specimen of C. puella found (on 26.05.2023) among dozens of C. australocaspicum at the Samurskiy Zakaznik Stationary, and none among numerous representatives of C. australocaspicum at the famous old plane tree, while only C. puella was present at a brook in Bil’-Bil’ Kazmalyar village just 5 km SSE of the Samurskiy Zakaznik Stationary.
description: Published as part of Kosterin, Oleg E., Onishko, Vladimir V., Ilyina, Elena V., Chepurnov, Grigory Yu. & Blinov, Alexander G., 2024, The genus Coenagrion Kirby, 1890 (Odonata: Coenagrionidae) in the Russian part of the Caucasus, pp. 151-190 in Zootaxa 5471 (2) on pages 159-167, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5471.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/12189904