Coeliccia furcata Hamalainen 1986
Creators: name: Dow, Rory A.
name: Zhang, Hao-Miao
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Odonata
Platycnemididae
Coeliccia
Coeliccia furcata

description: Coeliccia furcata
(Figs 1–30)
Coeliccia furcata Hämäläinen, 1986;— Hämäläinen 1986: 445–447, Figs 1–3 (original description holotype male);— Zhang 2019: 1232 (brief description, brief remarks on habitat, flight season and distribution, photos of both sexes);— Dow & Zhang 2020: 491, 499, Table 1.
Coeliccia sp. 5;— Zhang 2017: 17, Fig. 22g.
Type material: Holotype. m# (NHMUK013324290), Nam Tamai Valley (coordinates given on labels: 27.8N, 97.8E, ca. 1,060m a.s.l.), “ UPPER BURMA ”, Myanmar, 12 ix 1938, leg. R. Kaulback, in NHMUK.
Other material examined. 3 m #m#, 14 ix 2014, Tongbiguan Village (24.6116N, 97.6070E), Tongbiguan National Nature Reserve, Yingjiang County, Dehong, Dai & Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, China, ca. 1344m a.s.l., leg. HZ, in coll. Dow; 1 f#, same data but 31 x 2014; 1 m #, 1 f#, same data but 26 x 2015; 1 m #, same data but 25 x 2016.
First description of female (based on that from 26 x 2015). Head (Figs 2, 4). Labium yellowish except lateral lobes, which are black. Labrum and clypeus shining black except for a faint but broad central pale band on the anteclypeus. Mandible bases largely occupied by a somewhat irregular bluish marking, framed in black except adjacent to genae. Genae pale blue. Antenna missing above pedicel, black with top part of scape whitish. Frons and vertex mostly black, small yellowish marks on the dorsum of the head as shown in Fig. 2. Ocelli whitish. Narrow yellowish transverse postocular streaks present. Underside of head black.
Thorax. Prothorax (Figs 7, 8) with pronotum entirely black. Propleuron creamy yellow except narrowly below notopleural suture and rear part of postepimeral strip (Fig. 8). Upper cervical spur small, lower cervical spur whitish, very large, overlapping propleuron. No well-defined notopleural projections present. Posterior pronotal lobe with lapels low and broad (left lapel shown with a white outline in Fig. 8 to make its shape more easily visible), in dorsal view these appearing subrectangular with the inner rear corner produced inwards (Fig. 7). Central part of posterior pronotal lobe a short subrectangular plate fitted snugly between the lapels (shown with a white outline in Fig. 7 to make its shape more easily visible), only slightly higher than the lapels so hardly visible in lateral view (Fig. 8). Synthorax (Figs 13, 15) with mesepisternum black with pair of narrow, irregular, pale yellowish-blue antehumeral stripes, running from the mesostigmal plates, almost the length of mesepisternum, terminating at the level of the apex of the antealar triangle (Fig. 13). Mesepimeron black. Metepisternum black with a pale, irregular, yellowishblue stripe running from metakatepisternum, surrounding spiracle, occupying most of metepisternum to this point but narrowing thereafter, extending almost to antealar carina (Fig. 15). Metepimeron largely pale yellowish, narrowly black below metapleural suture and immediately adjacent to antealar carina. Venter largely pale yellowish. Mesokatepisternum black, pale blue in lower rear corner, metakatepisternum black above, pale below. Legs with coxae pale, trochanters pale with small black marks immediately above extensor surfaces of femora. Anterior femora largely black, yellowish on a little more than the upper half of the flexor surface. Middle and posterior femora black, yellowish on much of flexor surface. Remainder of legs black and dark brown. Wings with arc situated at Ax 2. Fw with 23 (left) and 24 (right) Px, Hw with 23 (left) and 22 (right) Px. Three post quadrilateral cells in all wings except right Hw, where two-and-a-half. R 4 well proximal to Sn, IR 3 at or very slightly distal to it. Pt dark brown with narrow white margin on distal and subcostal sides, almost a rhombus, covering most of two underlying cells except in left Hw where covers slightly more than two underlying cells.
Abdomen. Mostly black. S1 with a large pale mark laterally (visible in Fig. 15). S2 pale narrowly laterally above margin of tergite, S3 similar but pale area still narrower, terga of remaining segments almost entirely black. S8 with pair of yellowish apical marks on sternite, visible in lateral view (Fig. 17). Anal appendages black. Ovipositor largely black with a few pale marks (Fig. 17), extending well beyond anal appendages.
Measurements (mm). Abdomen with anal appendages ca. 38.5 mm, Hw ca. 28.
Variation in the female.
A small, yellow mark is present laterally on the right of the middle pronotal lobe in the female from 31 x 2014, on the left side this mark is brown and faint. On the same female there is a darker area on the venter of the synthorax near the abdomen and the pale areas along the lower margin of the tergite of S3 are wider and similar but irregular, mostly very narrow, areas are present on all segments except S9 and S10.
Measurements (mm). Abdomen with anal appendages ca 37 mm, Hw ca 27.5. Fw with 22 Px, Hw with 19 Px.
Descriptive notes on male.
The holotype of Coeliccia furcata (Figs 9-11, 20, 22, 24, 26–27) is rather discoloured. In Fig. 1 in Hämäläinen (1986) showing the synthorax, only a few tiny pale marks are shown in the antehumeral position, but in the text Hämäläinen (1986: 446) states “very narrow blue antehumeral stripe not quite extending to the dorsal carina” which is correct (see Fig. 9 here). In the holotype the mandible bases are stated to be blue, in the males from Yunnan they are typically largely blue but in one (that illustrated in Fig. 3) they are black along with the adjacent part of the genae. For the prothorax Hämäläinen (1986: 445) states “with blue spot on side of the median lobe” but from his Fig. 1 this appears to refer to the propleuron, (although possibly there are small blue spots on the middle pronotal lobe, obscured in Figs. 9-11 here) which has a blue marking in the males from Yunnan, similar to the pale mark in the female, but variable in size. There is a small blue mark laterally on the middle pronotal lobe in one male from Yunnan. The venter of the synthorax is damaged by the pin in the holotype, in the males from Yunnan it bears long hair-like setae and is black, in some cases (for instance that illustrated here) with a large subrectangular yellowish area (visible laterally, see Fig. 14, also Fig. 16) with poorly defined darker markings inside on the metaposternum, in immature examples it is brownish. The size of blue (yellow in immature examples) marks on the coxae is variable, in one specimen these marks are entirely absent on the posterior coxae. IR 3 is distal to Sn in two of the males from Yunnan, at Sn in the others and the holotype.
The lateral blue S1 mark is variable in size, tiny pale marks are present laterally on S2 on some individuals, in others S2 is completely black. The finger-like upper branch of the cercus is sometimes slightly narrower than in that illustrated in Fig. 23 here or in the holotype (Fig. 22), the apex of the lower branch is somewhat down curved in some. In the holotype the paraprocts appear to be slightly compressed and rotated slightly outwards apically, which accounts for the apparent differences between Figs 24 and 25.
Measurements of males from Yunnan (mm). Abdomen without anal appendages ca 38–43 mm, Hw ca 26–28, Fw with 21–24 Px, Hw with 19–22 Px.
Remarks. Coeliccia furcata is unlikely to be confused with any other species known from the genus, the deeply bifurcated apices of the male cerci are unique in Coeliccia sensu stricto (see the Discussion) and the posterior pronotal lobe of the female is also unusual and, in combination with the overall dark colouration and robust build (see Figs 28–29), serves to distinguish it from that of all other species known.
Habitat and flight season. In the Tongbiguan Nature Reserve Coeliccia furcata was found in seepages beside a clean montane stream in forest. Individuals of both sexes usually perch on plants above seepages and seldom fly. In overcast conditions females are more commonly seen than the males. Mating behaviour was observed in the afternoon. This is a shy species that always perches in shady places. It is also a rather late season species, seen from September to the end of November. Species co-occurring with C. furcata include Calicnemia erythromelas (Selys, 1891), Coeliccia chromothorax (Selys, 1891) and Echo margarita Selys, 1853.
description: Published as part of Dow, Rory A. & Zhang, Hao-Miao, 2021, First description of the female of Coeliccia furcata Hämäläinen, 1986, with descriptive notes on males from Yunnan, China (Odonata: Zygoptera: Platycnemididae), pp. 151-164 in Zootaxa 4974 (1) on pages 152-157, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4974.1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/4772282