Coeliccia rolandorum Kosterin & Kompier 2017, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Kosterin, Oleg E.
name: Kompier, Tom
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Odonata
Platycnemididae
Coeliccia
Coeliccia rolandorum

description: Coeliccia rolandorum sp. nov.
(Figs 5a–e, 7–9, 10a–c)
“ Coeliccia sp. (probably two different speCies)”— Roland et al. 2011: 7–8, 11, Figs 5–7 —The first photographiC reCord of this speCies, 2 ♂ (1 teneral), 1 ♀, from Cambodia, “Waterfall Sen Monorum, Mondulkiri, 12°24,600 N, 107°18,863 E ”. There is Monorom Waterfall in that proVinCe but the point giVen is for Dak Dam Waterfall 15.5 km SEE of the town of Sen Monorom. Coeliccia kazukoae Asahina, 1984 — Steinhoff & Do 2013: 350–352, Fig. 2 —Report of a male from Ka Nak, K’ Bang, Gia Lai ProVinCe, South Vietnam, drawings of morphologiCal details, Comparison with CharaCters desCribed in literature.
Coeliccia megumii (kazukoae) Asahina, 1984 —Yokoi & Souphanthong 2013: 12, 33, 79, plt. 10—Report for Sekong, Champasak and Attapu ProVinCes of (southern) Laos, a small photo of habitus, a map.
Coeliccia sp. Cf. kazukoae Asahina 1984 — Kosterin 2016b: 35 —report for three loCalities in Mondulkiri ProVinCe of Cambodia, ConspeCifiCity with speCimens reported by Roland et al. (2011) and Steinhoff & Do (2013).
Type material. Holotype: ♂ (Figs 5a, c–e), Cambodia, Mondulkiri Province, ‘ Loringae brook’ [a working nickname], the left tributary of the main river downstream Buu Sraa Waterfall, 12°34'01–19'' N 107°24'50''–25'03'' E, ~470 m a.s. l., 3 viii 2016, O. Kosterin leg.; deposited in Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands (RMNH). Paratypes: 1 ♀ (Figs 9a, c–d), the same locality, bamboo thickets on a slope, 12 vi 2014, O.K. leg. (collection O.K.); 1 ♀ (Figs 9b, e, 10c), Cambodia, Mondulkiri Province, Dak Dam village env., bamboo thickets at a river bank, 12°24'58''–25'07'' N 107°19'02–14'' E, 762–774 m a.s. l., 16 vi 2014, O.K. leg. (RMNH); 1 ♂ (Figs 5b, 8), Cambodia, Mondulkiri Province, 22.5 km SW of Sen Monorom, Seima forest, a river bank, 12°17'16–46'' N 107°04'17–55'' E, 373–397 m a.s. l., 17 vi 2014, O.K. leg (collection O.K.); 1 ♂, Vietnam, Lâm Đồng Province, Bảo Lộc, 11°43'55'' N 107°42'32'' E, 12 vi 2016, T.K. leg.; 2 ♂, 1 ♀, Vietnam, Lâm Đồng Province, Bảo Lộc, 11°26'56'' N 107°42'43'' E, 13 vi 2016, T.K. leg.; 1 ♂, Vietnam, Lâm Đồng Province, Bảo Lộc, 11°25'48'' N 107°25'33'' E, 14 vi 2016, T.K. leg.; 1 ♀, Vietnam, Đồng Nai Province, Cát Tiên National Park, ca 11.430 N 107.426 E, 26 i 2017 (collection T.K.).
Additional data: visual and photographic records by T.K. Vietnam, Đồng Nai Province, Cát Tiên National Park, ca 11.437 N 107.427 E: 4 imagines, 2 viii 2014; 1 imago, 14 xi 2014; 6 imagines, 15 xi 2014; 10 imagines, 18 xi 2014; 1 imago, 18 xi 2014; 2 imagines, 7 ii 2015; 6 imagines, 7 ii 2016. 2 imagines, Vietnam, Lâm Đồng Province, Bảo Lộc, 16 v 2016; 3 imagines, 17 v 2016; 4 imagines, 18 v 2016; 2 ♂, Vietnam, Gia Lai Province, at K'Bang Village, ca 14.131 N, 108.633 E, 19–20 vi 2016.
Etymology. The species is named in honour of Hanns-Jürgen, Ursula and Nanette Roland who were among the first explorers of Odonata of Cambodia in this century and first published an illustrated record of this species. The species name is a plural noun in casus genitivus.
Description of holotype. Head black with contrasting bluish-white markings (Fig. 5a, c). Labrum ventral half pale and dorsal half black, with demarcation of colours wavy. Base of mandibles bluish-white with dorsal and posterior borders black. Postclypeus black; anteclypeus yellowish-white with a pair of brownish mediolateral spots. Genae and ventral part of antefrons bluish-white to level of postclypeus, with only a narrow pale streak above postclypeus, rest of antefrons black, the demarcation uneven. Rest of head black with a pair of narrowly triangular whitish spots between lateral ocelli and bases of antennae, a pair of isolated postocular bluish-white stripes with irregular margins. 1st segment of antenna whitish, remainder brownish. Labium black with postmentum and bases of labial palps yellowish. Eyes (dead specimen) brown.
Thorax. Prothorax laterally whitish, dorsum black with yellowish-white spots: a pair of small dorsolateral spots on anterior lobe, a small dorsal spot at junction of anterior lobe and medial lobe, a pair of large dorsolateral spots on medial lobe, a lengthwise dorsal streak on posterior lobe (Fig. 5d–e). Lower border of black markings irregular, with a pair of deep rounded incursions at sides of anterior lobe (Fig. 5d). Posterior margin of posterior lobe extended into a tongue-like protrusion raised at an acute angle to body axis (Fig. 5c–d). Prosternite yellowish- white with blackish markings as follows: a pair of ventrolateral stripes anterior to procoxae, an area between procoxae, and a transversal stripe along poststernite anterior margin.
Mesostigmal plate has a pair of hollows lateral of the abovementioned protrusion, bordered posteriorly with black rounded lobes and, laterally, with a semi-transparent bluish sclerites (Fig. 5d). Synthorax (Fig. 5a) dorsum black with yellowish-white stripes, synthorax sides bluish-white, sternites yellowish-white. Mesepisternum with a straight yellowish-white stripe slightly broadening at anterior end and extending along almost its complete length, ending just short of antealar sinus (lobes of which yellowish-brown). Dorsal half of mesinfraepisternum black, remainder pale. Mesepimeron black dorsally with a blue-greenish-white stripe along its upper margin, not reaching its anterior part and strongly broadening at posterior end. Both pairs of stripes on the black dorsum of synthorax are thus similar and parallel but broaden and terminate at opposite ends. Metapleural suture accompanied with a broad black stripe at lower margin of metepisternum, which narrows and disappears below spiracle but re-appears on upper margin of metinfraepisternum. Poststernum yellowish-white with a small central dark mark. Coxae and protrochanters whitish, trochanter whitish with blackish marks at distal margin. Femora whitish with black stripes over dorsal side; distal parts of femora ventral side with black stripes. The length of these stripes are, respectively, 70% of profemur length, ca 40% of mesofemur length and ca 20% of metafemur length. Tibiae dirty-white with indistinctly darkened ventral side, tarsi brownish; all spines black; claws brown.
Wings hyaline; venation black. 15 (left)—16 (right) postnodal crossveins in forewings, 15 in hindwings. Cubital crossvein starts at origin of anal vein; 3 cells between quadrilateral and subnode. Pterostigmata blackish brown, pale edged, with dissimilar bordering crossveins: proximal one strongly slanting and straight, distal one slightly slanting and convex, ventral side somewhat convex on hind wings. IR3 arises at subnodus, R4 proximal to it.
Abdomen two-toned, blackish-brown and bluish-white at S1–2, S9–10 and cerci and blackish-brown and yellowish-white in remaining segments. S1–8 pale laterally and ventrally, dark dorsally, S1 almost entirely pale and very narrowly dark above; dark colour becomes nearly black and extends ventrally at segment joints, while on S2– 7 pale colour produces roundish dorsal extentions subapically; S8 nearly black with pale ventral margins extending dorsally at both segment joints. S9 with a triangular antero-dorsal black mark, nearly rectangular anterolateral marks which include a deep yellowish incisions; ventral margins with a broad black border and anterior margin with a narrow black border (not shown).
Cercus with a large subbasal tooth directed down but somewhat inclined proximally, with more convex distal margin, a rounded ventral subapical swelling and a blunt apex (not shown, as the position of the cerci is somewhat twisted in the holotype, instead Figure 8 shows the appendages of a paratype); in dorsal view simple and rounded, with basal teeth seen between them. Paraprocts ca 4/3 as long as cerci, broader basally with an inner subbasal ledge, curving towards each other in apical quarter, where flattened inside and convex outside. Cerci bluish-white gradually changing to light brown distally, but basal teeth black; paraprocts black but becoming yellowish at dorsolateral and inner sides.
Genital ligula not examined in the holotype. In paratypes no difference was found from that of C. kazukoae; for its illustration for this species see Steinhoff & Do (2013).
Measurements (mm). Abdomen with appendages 37.5; hindwing 22.5; total length 43.
Variation in males. The degree of backward inclination of the subbasal tooth is somewhat variable. The pale colours of the male paratype from Seima Forest (Fig. 5b) and three male paratypes of rom Bảo Lộc are a more saturated blue hue, with postocular spots also bluish; in the Bảo Lộc paratype of 12 vi as in the holotype. The antehumeral pale stripe along the mesostigmal suture covers 2/3 of the mesostigmal suture length in three male paratypes (one from Seima forest and two from Bảo Lộc; nearly interrupted in the former and interrupted in one of the latters), in the two other Bảo Lộc paratypes it covers 1/2 of the suture length in one and is reduced to a quadrangular spot in the other. In the Seima paratype and three Bảo Lộc paratypes, the black markings at the anterior part of S9 are merged into a ring (Fig. 8) (in the remaining Bao Loc paratype S9 is missing). The area occupied by black and whitish colours at the paraprocts is variable. Forewings with 15–17 antenodals. Eyes in live males multi-coloured, black above, below change from grass green in front part to azure blue in the rear part and below (Fig. 7a, c). Abdomen 36–38 mm, hind wing 22–24 mm.
Description of mature female. (Figs 7d, 9a, c, d)
Head black with yellow marking and blue postocular spots (Fig. 9a, d). Labrum yellow with a bipartite black stripe at its dorsal margin composed of two 'waves' and nearly interrupted at middle. Base of mandibles yellow. Postclypeus black, anteclypeus yellow with a pair of brownish mediolateral spots. Genae and ventral part of antefrons broadly yellow, dorsal part black, their demarcation irregular. Head dorsum black with the following yellow markings: a pair of two large lunular spots in front of medial ocellus, a pair of small roundish spots behind medial ocellus, a pair of irregularly triangular spots between lateral ocelli and base of antennae, a pair of S-like spots situated lateroposteriorly of base of antennae, a pair of narrow strokes at eye margins, a small unpaired oval spot between ocelli and hind head margin. Postocular spots blue, large, with uneven margins, connected with a pale streak. 1st segment of antennae whitish, remainder brownish (Fig. 9d). Labium yellowish with black tips of labial palpi. Eyes (dead specimen) brown (Fig. 9a, d), in life three-coloured, black above, below changing from grassgreen in front to azure blue in rear and beneath (Fig. 7d).
Thorax. Prothorax posterior lobe with a long and narrow, needle-like, central processus (prothoracic horn) and a pair of narrowly triangular lapels that are long and protruding (Fig. 10a–b, for the same in an immature female paratype see Figs 9b, e and 10c). In the paratype from Buu Sraa the prothoracic horn is bent down at top, most probably damaged, see Figure 9a, d.
Prothorax black-and-blue; colour pattern intricate: anterior lobe black-rimmed with a small central black spot, medial lobe has a dorsal black stripe and two very irregular lateral black stripes enclosing a pair of large pale spots with three external lobes, and posterior lobe pale, but its processus black (Fig. 9a).
Synthorax contrasting black-and-blue, with blue colour fading ventrally (Fig. 9a). Mesostigmal plate posterior ridges black, lateral hollows and anterior margin pale; lateral hollows and bordering sclerites very large, more than twice longer than in males (Fig. 10a–b; for the same in immature paratype see Figs 9b, e and 10c). Mesothoracic triangle whitish. Dorsum of synthorax (Fig. 9a, d) black with three pairs of contrasting pale stripes throughout its length. Inner straight pair bordering middorsal suture (narrower and yellow, unlike the two other pairs which are broader and blue), expanding and continuing along antealar sinus. A medial pair of stripes runs through middle of mesepisternum (terminating immediately before antealar sinus, not contacting the above stripes). An outer pair of stripes goes along mesopleural suture, broadening and confluent with lateral blue ground colour at posterior end. Black stripe along metapleural suture incomplete as terminating behind spiracle. Upper third of mesinfraepisternum black. Rest of thorax blue (Fig. 9a). Legs yellowish, distal margin of trochanter marked with black, femora with black stripes along dorsal sides and partly along ventral sides: for about distal half in profemur and shortly in meso- and metafemur; spines blackish-brown; claws yellowish (Fig. 9a).
Wings as in male. Antenodals: 15–16 on forewings, 14–15 in hindwings.
Abdomen brown but sides of S1–2 with a blue hue (Fig. 9a), there is a distinct yellow fine middorsal stripe along S2–5 (very narrow, nearly fading on S5) and indistinct darker and paler areas on sides (Fig. 7d). S1 with a distinct black posterior rim (Fig. 9a). S2–6 with darker dorsal side and blackish subapical areas laterally, which are preceded by indistinct paler spots on S2–6 (Fig. 7d). S7 brownish, but darker dorsally and a blackish posterior rim, S8 light-brown with an indistinct small blackish dorsal spot at anterior margin. S9 brown with indistinct darker areas, S10 blackish-brown with lighter sides, appendages brownish, ovipositor brown darkening to blackish at middle laterally and at the lower margin (Fig. 9e).
Immature females. Immature (already not teneral but not yet having achieved the final colouration) females have those pattern elements bright-yellow or yellowish (Figs 7b, 9b, e, 10c), which are blue in mature females: these are the postocular spots, thorax ground colour and sides of abdominal S1–2 (Fig. 9b).
Measurements of females (mm). Abdomen with appendages 36.5–38; hindwing 25–25.5; total length 43–45.
Short diagnosis. A Coeliccia species as a rule with two pairs of pale lengthwise stripes contrasting with black dorsum of synthorax in males and three pairs of those in females, a tongue like protrusion of prothorax posterior lobe in males and a very long prothoracic horn and long prothoracic lapels in females.
Differential diagnosis. The new species is very similar to C. kazukoae, but differs in both structural and colourational characters. The most profound difference structurally is the posterior prothorax lobe of both sexes. The female bears a long needle-like prothoracic horn in the new species (Figs 9a–b, d–e, 10a–c) while in C. kazukoae it is broad, leaf-like, and with the apex blunt, only slightly attenuated (Fig. 10d–f). The prothoracic lapels are processed and pointed in the new species (Figs 9e, 10b–c), best seen in oblique dorsolateral view (Fig. 9e) while shorter and rounded in C. kazukoae (Fig. 10e–f). Males of the two species also differ in the shape of the prothorax posterior lobe, although less markedly: in C. rolandorum it is more elongate and in dorsal view looks triangular with a rounded apex (Fig. 5d–e), while in C. kazukoae it is shorter, evenly rounded and broader in dorsal view, and also somewhat more raised (Fig. 5i –j).
A curious and strong difference is found in the mesostigmal plate in males: in C. rolandorum the lateral hollows and their bordering sclerites are small, more than twice shorter than in females (Fig. 5d–e), while in C. kazukoae they are as large and long as in females of both species (Fig. 6i –j).
The appendages (Fig. 8) are similar to those of C. kazukoae (Fig. 4); the orientation of the cercal subbasal tooth is rather variable in both species. The genital ligula was depicted and discussed by Steinhoff & Do (2013: Fig. 2f, g) and is also similar to that of C. kazukoae (Asahina 1984: Fig. 56, as C. megumii).
The colouration of C. rolandorum is always strongly contrasting (Figs 5a–b, 7, 9a–b). All 10 specimens from the type series, and all individuals on the additional photos by T.K. and in Roland et al. (2011), containing both mature (Fig. 7c–d) and immature individuals (still without blue colours, Fig. 7a–b), share the same characters: the synthorax is black dorsally, with narrow, contrasting pale (yellow to blue) stripes, usually four in males and six in females, as well as a black dorsum of prothorax and head with contrasting pale spots. In some males, the second pair of streaks at the mesothoracic sutures is strongly reduced to short streaks or quadrangular spots (Fig. 7c); such males approach in appearance fully mature males of C. kazukoae (Figs 1b, 5g). No specimen was found with a diffuse synthoracic pattern, while C. kazukoae is remarkable in the genus for a diffuse dorsal pattern of the prothorax and the synthorax for a considerable (maybe most) time of its adult life. Most of the studied specimens (15 of 25) of C. kazukoae have the dorsum of the thorax brown with diffuse lighter and darker stripes on the synthorax (see above in 'remarks' for C. kazukoae) and the prothorax and head also with indistinct brownish spots (Fig. 1a). In both species, the pale colour of the thorax, abdominal S1–2 and the postocular spots become blue with maturity, but females (Fig. 2) and submature males (Figs 3, 5f) of C. kazukoae retain the diffuse and indistinct brownish stripes of the thorax. Only in fully mature males the synthorax becomes saturated black above, as in C.
rolandorum, with only one pair of blue stripes throughout the mesepisterna plus small bluish spots (rather than streaks) at the posterior ends of the mesothoracic sutures (Figs 1b, 2, 5g); on the dorsum of the prothorax pale colour only remains on the anterior lobe (Fig. 5j), and only a pair of small brownish strokes between the central ocellus and base of antennae remains on the head dorsal surface (Fig. 5h).
Immature males of C. kazukoae have a pair of indistinct round brownish spots in the distal part of S8 (not shown), not seen in C. rolandorum. All males of C. kazukoae have a distinct black triangular dorsal spot on S9 (Figs 1, 3), which never fuses with the lateroventral black spots, as in all male paratypes of C. rolandorum (Fig. 8a), a male depicted by Steinhoff & Do (2013: Fig. 2c–e) and the mature male shown in Figure 7c (but in the holotype of C. rolandorum the dorsal black spot is not fused with the lateral ones, as in C. kazukoae; not shown).
Females of C. kazukoae undergo a similar melanisation as males but less advanced, with most mature females retaining the indistinct brownish stripes along the mesothoracic sutures (Fig. 2), while the mature females of C. rolandorum retain more than one pair of distinct stripes on the synthorax (Figs 7d, 9a).
The new species differs from other Indochinese species of Coeliccia in having more than one pair of contrasting (rather than diffuse) narrow pale stripes throughout the black dorsum of the synthorax, three pairs in females (along the middorsal suture, at the mesepisternum and at the mesopleural suture) and usually not less than two pairs in males (the inner, middorsal pair is missing in mature males; those males in which the outer pair of stripes is shortened to spots superficially resemble C. kazukoae). Females differ clearly from other Coeliccia species in having three conspicuous processes of the prothorax: a needle-like prothoracic horn and long pointed lapels.
Habitat. In Mondulkiri Province of Cambodia the species was found in three habitats: at ~ 390 m. a.s.l. at a moist bank of a considerable river with rather cold water flowing through evergreen Seima forest, at ~470 m a.s.l. at a small brook (the type locality, see Kosterin 2016a: Fig. 9; 2016b: Fig. 15) flowing on a slope of a major river valley also clad with evergreen forest, although crossing a plateau where natural deciduous dipterocarp forests were replaced by plantations, and at ~770 m a.s.l. at rivers, accompanying forest stripes, on a savannah plateau near Dak Dam village. It was not numerous and in the type locality was strongly inferior in number to Coeliccia poungyi dasha Kosterin, 2016 (the only other Coeliccia species there) (Kosterin 2016a, b). At the type locality, an extraordinary diversity of Odonata was found (47 species at the ‘Loringae brook’, 71 species totally at the Buu Sraa Waterfall area) (Kosterin 2016b); it is the type locality of Asiagomphus reinhardti Kosterin & Yokoi, 2016 (Kosterin & Yokoi 2016) and C. poungyi dasha (Kosterin 2016a).
At Bảo Lộc of southern Vietnam, C. rolandorum was found in shaded places at small, shallow and rocky tributaries of a year-round flowing stream, and in the nearby forest. In Cát Tiên National Park, immature individuals occurred away from water in the forest adjacent to temporary streams, where fully mature individuals were found, but never at the larger Dong Nai River. In Gia Lai Province, these damselflies occurred in the forest not far from the valleys of nearby temporary streams and a permanent rocky stream.
Distribution. The Annamese Mountains in East Cambodia (Mondulkiri Province), South Laos (Sekong, Champasak and Attapu Provinces) and southern and central Vietnam (Đồng Nai, Lâm Đồng and Gia Lai Provinces) (Fig. 6).
The two closely related species are supposed to be allopatric, with their ranges broadly separated by flat and forestless Cambodian Lowland. Hence the differences in the prothoracic structures between the two species does not serve for crossing specificity and is most probably neutral (therefore no obvious difference in the appendages appears not so surprising). It is however unclear what happens in Dangrek Mountains being the southern escarpment of the Korat Plateau and uniting the Sankamphaeng Range and the western outskirts of the Annamese Mts. (Fig. 6): if either or even both of them occur there and if there are some transitional populations?
description: Published as part of Kosterin, Oleg E. & Kompier, Tom, 2017, Coeliccia rolandorum sp. nov. from eastern Cambodia and southern Vietnam, the eastern relative of C. kazukoae Asahina, 1984 (Odonata: Platycnemididae), pp. 509-527 in Zootaxa 4341 (4) on pages 516-525, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4341.4.4, http://zenodo.org/record/1040573