Coeliccia pulchella Kompier & Dow & Steinhoff 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Kompier, Tom
name: Dow, Rory A.
name: Steinhoff, Philip O. M.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Odonata
Platycnemididae
Coeliccia
Coeliccia pulchella

description: 8. Coeliccia pulchella sp. nov.
(Figs 6, 7 c–d, 8g–h, 11c–d, 14e, 16e, 17e, 19e, 21b, 27d–f)
Holotype ♂ Huu Lien NR, Lang Son Prov. (appr. 21.662N, 106.373E; alt. 250 m asl.) 23 vii 2016, TK leg.
Paratypes 1 ♂, Huu Lien NR, Lang Son Prov., 11 x 2015, TK leg.; 1 ♂, same location and collector, 25 x 2015; 1 ♀, same location, date and collector as holotype (used for description); 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, Cuc Phuong NP, Ninh Binh Prov., 18 ix 2016, TK leg.
Other material not examined by the authors. 2 ♂♂, Huu Lien NR, Lang Son Prov., 21 v 2015, QTP leg.; 3 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀, Cuc Phuong NP, Ninh Binh Prov., 25 vi 2018, QTP leg.; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Son Kim Commune, Huong Son District, Ha Tinh Prov., 05 vii 2018, QTP leg.; 2 ♂♂, Phu Gia Commune, Huong Khe District, Ha Tinh Prov., 10 v 2019, QTP leg.; 1 ♂, Truing Xuan, Quang Binh Prov., 30 vii 2019, Do Manh Cuong leg.
Etymology. The adjective pulchella means “beautiful little” in Latin and refers to the small size and beautiful coloration of the species.
Description of holotype (Figs 6, 7 c–d, 8g–h, 11c–d). Head (Fig. 6c). Labrum and postclypeus shiny black. Anteclypeus yellow, with two darker areas left and right on lower half. Genae and base of mandibles yellow, the yellow narrowly continuing over the antefrons above the postclypeus for about one-fourth in of the width of the antefrons, remainder of frons matte black. Dorsal surface of head matte black, apart from two small yellow spots between base of antennae and lateral ocelli and two oblong pale yellow postocular spots. Antennae black, top of first segment and base of second segment pale yellow. Compound eyes in life black dorsally, green ventrally.
Thorax. Prothorax (Fig. 6d): matte black, marked with brownish yellow lines, propleuron bright yellow, but posterior third brownish black. Synthorax (Fig. 6 a–b): mesepisternum black, but with a yellow, almost square, spot, on one side bordered by mesopleural suture, starting at about one-seventh length of mesepisternum and extending to about three-sevenths. Mesepimeron and mesinfraepisternum black. Metepisternum and metepimeron yellow. Legs: coxae and trochanters yellow. Femur pale yellow with black lines. Claws and spines brownish.
Wings. Hyaline, 18 Px in FW, 16 in HW. Pt dark brown, covering 1–2 cells.
Abdomen. S1 yellow with posterior margin black; S2 black dorsally and yellow below, black along anterior and posterior margin; S3–6 black dorsally and somewhat paler below, and with prominent subapical annulus; S7 black shading to blackish brown posteriorly and with yellow apical lateral spot; S8 anterior two-thirds brownish, posterior one-third brownish yellow; S9–10 yellow (Fig. 7 c–d).
Anal appendages (Fig. 8 g–h). Yellow. In lateral view the cerci somewhat club-shaped, thinner at the proximal end, and only a little shorter than paraprocts, and with subapical ventral expansion, tipped with black tooth. In dorsal view a small tooth at one-third of length of cerci, from where the subapical ventral expansion starts. The paraprocts of usual type, apically curved inwards and with black tooth at apex.
Genital ligula (Fig. 11 c–d). The apical segment thin and flat, forming a tongue, with two thin curved flagella originating laterally close to its base. Internal fold and apical flap present.
Measurements (in mm). HW 23; abdomen incl. appendages 36.
Variation in male paratypes. Some variability in extent of yellow on middle pronotal lobe of prothorax, sometimes almost completely yellow. Px in FW 17–18, in HW 15–16. Yellow spots on mesepisternum sometimes slightly larger, covering about one-third of length. One male with thin black line over posterior two-thirds of metapleural suture.
Measurements (mm). HW 22–25; abdomen incl. appendages 36–39.
Description of female paratype (Figs 14e, 16e, 17e, 19e, 21b). Head (Fig. 14e). Labrum yellow with dorsal margin dark brown. Anteclypeus yellow, with two darker areas left and right on lower half. Postclypeus shiny black. Genae and base of mandibles yellow, the yellow connected over the antefrons above the postclypeus, remainder of frons matte black. Dorsal surface of head matte black, apart from two small yellow spots between base of antennae and lateral ocelli and two oblong pale yellow postocular spots. Antennae blackish brown, top of first segment and base of second segment pale yellow. Compound eyes in life black dorsally, green ventrally.
Thorax. Prothorax (16e, 17e, 21b): yellow with frontal part of anterior pronotal lobe and with posterior pronotal lobe blackish brown. Posterior pronotal lobe with central part tapering from base to rounded apex, noticeably inflated (Fig. 21b) in dorsal view, in lateral view raised, inflated until near apex where thin and flattened. Lapels well developed, rounded. Synthorax: mesepisternum blackish brown, with two yellow, almost square, spots, on one side bordered by mesopleural suture, the first on the anterior half of the mesepisternum a little larger than the second on the middle of the posterior half (Fig. 27 d–e, which show live specimens). Mesepimeron and mesinfraepisternum brown. Metepisternum and metepimeron pale yellow. Legs: coxae and trochanters pale yellow. Femur pale yellow with brown lines. Claws and spines brownish.
Wings. Hyaline, 19 Px in FW, 18 in HW. Pt dark brown, covering 1–1.5 cells.
Abdomen. S1 yellow with posterior margin brown; S2 brown dorsally and yellow below; S3–7 brown dorsally and paler yellow below, darker at the basal and apical margins and with prominent subapical whitish yellow annulus, S7 without dark apical margin; S8–10 yellow.
Anal appendages. Cerci brown, half as long as S10, ovipositor yellow, extending almost 1.5 times length of S10 beyond cerci.
Measurements (in mm). HW 23; abdomen incl. appendages 34.
Variation in female paratype. The central part of the posterior pronotal lobe of the prothorax is not noticeably inflated. Coloration generally blacker. Mesepisternum, mesepimeron and mesinfraepisternum black, the posterior spot on mesepisternum distinct, but clearly smaller. Some black over posterior end of metapleural suture. Dorsum of abdominal segments blackish brown. S9 mostly black, with anterodorsal yellow spot. S10 and cerci black, ovipositor black. 16 Px in FW, 15 in HW.
Measurements (in mm). HW 26.5; abdomen incl. appendages 39.
Differential diagnosis. The male shares the combination of small squarish yellow spots on the otherwise black dorsum of the thorax in Vietnam with C. diomedea (Fig. 27) and C. yamasakii. Lack of pruinosity and the structure of its genital ligula exclude C. diomedea. Both C. yamasakii and C. diomedea differ by, inter alia, the lack of white rings on the abdomen, much less yellow on the abdominal tip (no yellow on S8, reduced or no yellow on S9) and both these species also have a much more pronounced black line over the metapleural suture. The genital ligula of C. yamasakii, although similar in structure, has the flagella placed further distally from the base of the terminal segment (see Fig. 50 in Asahina 1984).
The female has double spots on the mesepisternum (Fig. 27 d–e), which in Vietnam it shares only with the female of Coeliccia sasamotoi Do, 2011. The anterior spot in that species is clearly elongated and generally at least twice as long as the posterior spot. Coeliccia sasamotoi has a shiny black labrum and has a different pattern on S8–9, with distinct white dorsal half-rings on the posterior half of the segments. The elongated central part of the posterior pronotal lobe of the prothorax of C. sasamotoi is smaller and not noticeably inflated.
Coeliccia svihleri Asahina, 1970 occurs in Assam (India), Bhutan, Myanmar and Yunnan (China) (Dow 2019). The shape of its ligula (Asahina 1985: figs 42–43) appears to be similar to that of C. pulchella, but it differs by, for instance, black markings on the metepisternum and metepimeron (all yellow in C. pulchella), by the markings of its abdomen and by the shape of the cerci (Asahina 1985: figs 39–41, 45–46).
Remarks. The difference between the general darkness of the female paratypes likely results from the fact that the paratype used for description is not fully mature. This is supported by the photos of additional specimens provided in Fig. 27 d–e.
The male of Coeliccia schmidti Asahina, 1984 from India looks rather similar to the male of C. pulchella, but the female has an elongated antehumeral stripe, not spots, on the thorax (Joshi & Kunte 2014).
The genital ligulae of both subspecies of C. poungyi look somewhat similar, but have the flagella further distal from the base of the terminal segment and a much longer central tongue (Asahina 1984, Kosterin 2016).
Habitat and ecology. In Huu Lien NR and Cuc Phuong NP Coeliccia pulchella is found in karst mountains, where it can be quite common in the vicinity of small streams. In Huu Lien NR it was found together with the rare C. galbina at a particularly rocky hill side, but otherwise no other Coeliccia species were seen nearby. In Cuc Phuong NP it shares its habitat with C. pyriformis and C. uenoi.
description: Published as part of Kompier, Tom, Dow, Rory A. & Steinhoff, Philip O. M., 2020, Five new species of Coeliccia Kirby, 1890 from Vietnam (Odonata: Platycnemididae), and information on several other species of the genus, pp. 501-538 in Zootaxa 4766 (4) on pages 527-534, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4766.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3765652