Coenagrion pulchellum
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 pulchellum

description: 3. Coenagrion pulchellum (Vander Linden, 1825)
Figs 2o–p, 3o–p, 4e–f, 5b–c, 7j, 8e–m
Reported from: throughout Krasnodarskiy Kray, Adygea and Kabardino-Balkaria; scarce unprecise reports from Stavropol’skiy Kray, Karachay-Cherkressia and North Ossetia; not reported from Chechnya and Dagestan, as summarised by Skvortsov (2010; for Adygea see also Shapovalov & Korotkov 2019). Kamysh-Burun, for which the species was reported in the paper on dragonflies of Dagestan by Artobolevskij (1929), was in Dagestan in Artobolevskij’s time but presently is a part of Neftekumsk Town in Stavropol’skiy Kray.
Specimens. Krasnodarskiy Kray: ♀ (dark morph), Anapa Municipality, the Dzhiga River lowermost reaches and mouth 1 km W of Suvorov-Cherkesskiy settlement, 45.060 –45.064 N, 37.261– 37.262 E, 0–1 m a.s.l. 24.06.2019. Karachay-Cherkes Republic: ♀, Zelenchuk District, Dausuz village W environs, S banks of a large water reserve at the Bolzhoy Zelenchuk River, 43.793 –43.796 N, 41.536– 41.540 E, 1012–1014 m a.s.l., 3.07.2019. Republic of Dagestan: ♂ (176989333, 181375745 (Fig. 8m)—both refer to the only male specimen collected), 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., 30.05.2023; ♂ (Figs 4f, 5b), ♀ (Fig. 7k), Makhachkala N env., Muraveynik Protected Area at the Sulak River mouth, pools among coastal dunes, 43.204 –43.211 N, 47.491– 47.497 E, 26 m below s.l., 1.06.2021, E. Ilyina leg.; ♀, the same place, 8.06.2021, E. Ilyina leg.; 4 ♂♂ (Figs 2o, 3o, 4e, 5c), 8 ♀♀ (166632124, 166725873, 166726404, 166726653 (Fig. 8k), 166727248, 166727929, 166728450 (Fig. 8f), 166728814, 166728940, 166733552, 166733553 (Fig.8l), 166733810, 166734141, 166734669 (Fig. 8g), 166734952, 166735309, 166735310, 166737122, 166832245, 166835373, 167024132, 167024135), Makhachkala N suburbs, pools between dunes at the Krivaya Balka River left bank in its lowermost reaches, 43.199 –43.200 N, 47.486– 47.490 E, 26 m below s.l., 23.05.2023, O. Kosterin & E. Ilyina leg.; ♂, ♀ (176988555, 176988662, 176988774, 176988928, 176989100, 176989203, 178699404 (Fig. 8e), 178699406 (Fig. 8j), 178699407 (Fig. 8h), 178699412, 181376006, 181376072, 181381216, 181381373), the same place but a broader longitude range of 47.486 – 47.493 E,, 30.05.2023.
Additional photographic registrations. Krasnodarskiy Kray: ♀ (dark morph) (37520705), Anapa Municipality, Sukko village E end, the Sukko River, 44.800 N, 37.439 E, 1.06.2018. Kabardino-Balkarian Republic: ♂ (37681836), Mayskiy Town NE margin, an inundated quarry, 43.654 N, 44.100 E, 1.05.2019.
Characters. Male cercus large: trunk very robust, in lateral view (Fig. 3o–q) with horizontal to subhorizontal upper surface and apex processed and terminated as an acute angle, but with a rounded tip; in dorsal view (Fig. 2o–q) rounded with a very large bulge as a blunt rounded angle, with bulges of the opposite cerci contacting each other. Tubercle disposed right below trunk apex, well seen in lateral view (Fig. 3o–q) and protruding behind to the level of paraproct spine. Tooth disposed at ca 2/3 of trunk length (Fig. 2o–q) (while almost at middle in C. persicum, see Fig. 2n). Process long and straight, seen only in caudal view (Fig. 4e–f), very narrowly triangular with a blunt apex; terminating at paraproct prominence level.
Paparoct spine very thin, directed a bit more than 45° upwards, prominence long, protruding caudad not much less than spine, incision between them very deep and broad (Fig. 3o–q), broader than in C. persicum, in which the prominence is directed caudad (Fig. 3n) rather than ventrocaudad as in C. pulchellum (Fig. 30o–q); the same difference is shown in Schneider et al. (2016: fig. 2).
Male pronotum hind margin tripartite, with the three lobes separated by two deep depressions (Fig. 5b–c).
Female pronotum festoon-like, with three sharp lobes, a rounded triangular central and two broadly rounded lateral ones, separated by deep narrow skewed triangular depressions (Fig. 7j), the latter not as sinuous as in C. persicum (Fig. 7i, see also Schneider et al. 2016).
The Caucasian males of C. pulchellum represent more melanic versions of the maculation pattern of this very variable species (Fig. 8j–m), like specimens from West Siberia which were once described as C. pulchellum sibiricum Belyshev, 1964 (Belyshev 1964). In males, the antehumeral blue stripe is entire (Fig. 8j–k) or, more frequently, interrupted (Fig. 8l). In the most melanic specimen from the Shura-Ozen’ River it is reduced to tiny blue dots in the fore synthorax part (Fig. 8m). Male S9 with a posterior variable black bar, entire (Fig. 8l–m) or more or less bipartite (Fig. 8k); S10 dorsally mostly black.
Female dimorphic for the dark (Fig. 8f) and spotty (Fig. 8e–h, g) morphs as elsewhere in Europe (Dijkstra et al. 2020) but in both morphs, S8 is always blue (Fig. 8h) or largely blue (Fig. 8e, f–g), with some bipartite (Fig. 8e–g) or paired black (Fig. 8f) mark(s) at most. We never met females with completely dark S8 dorsum, as depicted for both female morphs of this species by Dijkstra et al. (2020).
Distribution and habitat. The species is seemingly widespread but rare in the Caucasus at low elevations, always found by solitary individuals with a notable exception of huge populations existing at pools between coastal sandy dunes in the northern environs of Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan. In the latter locality, the only congener, C. scitulum was also found as solitary individuals. Maybe more large coastal populations of C. pulchellum exist elsewhere, as the Azov and Caspian coasts of the Caucasus remain poorly explored.
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 170-171, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5471.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/12189904