Orthetrum lusinga 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 : 639-641

Orthetrum lusinga Dijkstra sp. nov. – Spring Skimmer (Type Photo 52, Photo 67, Fig. 31)

Taxonomy

Genetically nearest to the saegeri -group (see O. agaricum sp. nov.), which includes the syntopic O. kafwi sp. nov. ( Tree 8), but has a distinctive hamule shape and is coloured very differently with limited black markings. Treated as a distinct species by Dijkstra & Clausnitzer (2014).

Material studied

Holotype ♂. RMNH.INS.505542 , Congo-Kinshasa, Katanga , 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), 15 -xi- 2011, leg. K.-D.B. Dijkstra, RMNH .

Further material. CONGO-KINSHASA ( Katanga ): 4 ♂ ( RMNH.INS.505475 , RMNH.INS.505483 , RMNH.INS.505518 ), 1 ♀ ( RMNH.INS.505482 ), as holotype, RMNH . 1 ♂ ( RMNH.INS.505550 ), 2 ♀ ( RMNH.INS.505551 ), Upemba National Park, Kabwekanono, source area of Kafwi , stream through gallery forest and bogs in open grassy plains, 1770 –1820 m a.s.l. (8.937 ° S 27.166 ° E), 15–16 -xi- 2011, leg. K.-D.B. Dijkstra, RMNH . 2 ♂ ( RMNH.INS.505675 ), Kundelungu National Park, source area of Lutshipuka , grassy plateau with pools, bog, wet meadows and gallery forest patches, 1680 – 1705m a.s.l. (10.58 ° S 27.83 ° E), 23–24 -xi- 2011, leg K.-D.B. Dijkstra, RMNH .

Genetics

Four unique haplotypes (n= 7) are distinct from other saegeri -group species, but one unique haplotype (n = 1) is similar to O. umbratum sp. nov. ( Tree 8).

Male morphological diagnosis

Recalls the widespread O. guineense Ris, 1910 and sympatric O. machadoi Longfield, 1955 by (a) moderate size, Hw 28.0– 30.8 mm (n = 7); (b) the absence of cell-doublings in the radial planate and thus a single row of cells there; (c) the pale subcostal Ax at least proximally, although they can be notably dark; and (d) the medium-sized pale brown Pt that are 10–11 % of Hw length, 2.8–3.3 mm. When not pruinose also similar by (e) the thorax lacking whitish stripes; (f) all abdominal segments being brown and variably but generally quite narrowly black on the dorsal carina of S 3–9 and lateral carinae of S 3–8; and (g) the always dark cerci. However, (1) the hook of the hamule has a concave anterior border and a broad and outward-turned tip lying closely against the rather low lobe, i.e., similar to O. chrysostigma (Burmeister, 1839) but with the sigmoid anterior profile of O. saegeri ( Fig. 31). When not yet pruinose also (2) unlike O. guineense lacks a black line on the ventral carina of the metepimeron; and (3) unlike O. machadoi S 6–8 are only narrowly black on the lateral carinae and S 9–10 are largely brown rather than black.

Etymology

Named after the headquarters of Upemba National Park at the source of the Lusinga stream, the species’ type locality (noun in apposition).

Range and ecology

Found between 1 680 and 1 820 m a.s.l. at boggy spring areas bordering or enclosed by forest on the otherwise grassy Kibara and Kundelungu Plateaus of Katanga ( Map 11).