Elattoneura lapidaria Dijkstra & Bjelke, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Dijkstra, Klaas-Douwe B.
name: Kipping, Jens
name: Mézière, Nicolas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Odonata
Protoneuridae
Elattoneura
Elattoneura lapidaria
Elattoneura glauca

description: Elattoneura lapidaria Dijkstra & Bjelke sp. nov. – Rock Threadtail (Type Photo 9, Photos 16–17, Fig. 6)
Taxonomy
Dijkstra & Clausnitzer (2014) discussed this species and provided a photograph but no characters for identification. It belongs to the genetically and ecologically distinct glauca -group of pruinose-faced Elattoneura species, which includes E. cellularis (Grünberg, 1902), E. frenulata (Hagen in Selys, 1860), E. glauca (Selys, 1860), E. nigra Kimmins, 1938, E. tarbotonorum sp. nov. and presumably E. pasquinii Consiglio, 1978 (Tree 1). Occurs with its nearest relative E. glauca, differing in behaviour, coloration, structure and genetically. Note however, that COI data suggest that E. cellularis and E. glauca conceal additional species (Tree 1).
Material studied
Holotype ♂. RMNH. 5007711, Zimbabwe, Manicaland, 16 km E of Chimanimani village, Chimanimani National Park, Bundi Plain and Valley, rocky sections of Bundi in grassy and boggy plain and sheltered gorge, 1510 – 1577 m a.s.l. (19.784 ° S 33.029 ° E), 01-xii- 2013, leg. K.- D.B. Dijkstra & U. Bjelke, RMNH.
Further material. 3 ♂ (RMNH.5007732, RMNH.5007751), 5 ♀ (RMNH.5007715, RMNH.5007753, RMNH.5007764, RMNH.5007785), as holotype, RMNH.
Genetics
Three unique haplotypes (n = 7) nearest to but well-separated from E. glauca from the Eastern Cape (South Africa) and even more distant from specimens of that species from northern South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, including syntopic ones (Tree 1).
Male morphological diagnosis
Nearest to E. glauca by (a) the pruinose face with maturity; (b) the penis with pointed apical lobes as well as slender filament-like lateral branches; and (c)the ventral process of the cerci that is wide at base, with a conspicuous subapical tooth next to the single apical tooth (Fig. 6). However, is (1)larger, Hw 21.5–22.2 mm (n= 4) rather than 17.5–19.5 mm (n = 6); (2)darker with pruinosity on face, S 8–10 and especially thorax less dense, with only narrow ante-humeral stripes of pruinosity rather than largely pruinose mesepisterna; (3) has the penis with broader apical lobes that are laterally more round- ed and less abruptly narrowed to their fine tips; (4) the cerci with relatively shorter apex but broader ventral process; and (5) the basal part of the paraprocts longer dorsally than ventrally in lateral view; however, the appendage shape may fall within the variation of E. glauca (Fig. 6).
Etymology
Latin “belonging to stones” refers to the adult behaviour of perching consistently on rocks (feminine adjective).
Range and ecology
Unlike most Elattoneura species, the glauca -group is associated more with exposed and/or elevated habitats than with lowland rainforest. This species occurs along open rocky streams between 1 500 and 1 600 m a.s.l. in the Chimanimani Mountains of eastern Zimbabwe (Photo 17). Both sexes always perched flat on rocks, probably to warm up in their often misty habitat. Its sister-species E. glauca was less numerous at the same sites and rested on vegetation like grasses.
description: Published as part of Dijkstra, Klaas-Douwe B., Kipping, Jens & Mézière, Nicolas, 2015, Sixty new dragonfly and damselfly species from Africa (Odonata), pp. 447-678 in Odonatologica 44 (4) on pages 489-493, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.35388