Orthetrum kafwi Dijkstra

Dijkstra, Klaas-Douwe B., Kipping, Jens & Mézière, Nicolas, 2015, Sixty new dragonfly and damselfly species from Africa (Odonata), Odonatologica 44 (4), pp. 447-678 : 636-639

Orthetrum kafwi Dijkstra sp. nov. – Bog Skimmer (Type Photo 51, Photo 67, Fig. 31)

Taxonomy

Morphologically similar to O. hintzi Schmidt, 1951 among which it was discovered, but genetically closer to the saegeri -group (see O. agaricum sp. nov.), which includes the also syntopic O. lusinga sp. nov. ( Tree 8). Treated as a distinct species by Dijkstra & Clausnitzer (2014).

Material studied

Holotype ♂. RMNH.INS.505544 , Congo-Kinshasa, Katanga , Upemba National Park, Kabwekanono, source area of Kafwi , stream through gallery forest and bogs in open grassy plains ( Photo 67), 1770–1820 m. a.s.l. (8.937°S 27.166°E), 15-xi-2011, leg. K.-D.B. Dijkstra, RMNH .

Further material. CONGO-KINSHASA ( Katanga ): 4♂ ( RMNH.INS.505554 , RMNH.INS.505579 ), 2♀ ( RMNH.INS.505553 ), 2♂ ♀, as holotype, RMNH. 1♂ 1♀, Upemba National Park, source area of Lusinga near park headquarters , spring streams in gallery forest and adjacent bog, dam and channel, 1760–1800 m a.s.l. (8.933°S 27.199°E), 11-xi-2011, leg. K.- D.B. Dijkstra, RMNH .

Genetics

One unique haplotype (n =4) is perhaps the most distinct within saegeri - group ( Tree 8)

. Male morphological diagnosis

Recalls the widespread and syntopic O. hintzi by (a) small size, Hw 23.7– 26.0 mm (n = 6); (b) the absence of cell-doublings in the radial planate and

thus a single row of cells there; (c) the pale subcostal Ax; (d) the large pale Pt that are about 13–14 % of Hw length, 3.2– 3.5 mm; and (e) the narrow space between the triangular and out-turned hook and prominent lobe of the hamule ( Fig. 31). When not pruinose also similar by (f) the absence of a black line on the metepimeral carina; (g) the dorsa of S4–10 yellow with black lateral halves; and (h) the cerci always dark. However, (1) the frons anterior to the vertex, as well as the labium, is always pale and never marked with black; and (2) the hamule has a straight rather than convex anterior border, ending in a slender hook that is distinctly longer rather than shorter than it is wide at the point where it turns outward when seen in ventral view ( Fig. 31). Also, when not yet pruinose (3) the dorsal carina of S3–9 is always marked with a thin black line.

Etymology

Named after the Kafwi River, of which the type locality is the source (noun in apposition). The name also mimics the genitive suffix of most related species.

Range and ecology

Found between 1 760 and 1 820 m a.s.l. at boggy areas bordering forest patches on the otherwise grassy Kibara Plateau in Upemba National Park, Katanga ( Map 11).