Mecistogaster amalia (Burmeister, 1839)

Soldati Lacerda, Déborah S. & Monteiro Machado, Angelo B., 2019, The damselfly genus Mecistogaster (Odonata: Pseudostigmatidae) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest with a description of three new species and a neotype designation for M. amalia (Burmeister, 1839), Zootaxa 4668 (2), pp. 207-228 : 212

The Mecistogaster amalia of Selys (1860, 1886)

The first author to redescribe M. amalia after Burmeister (1839) was Selys (1860, 1886), based on specimens from his own collection and that of Hagen, without seeing the holotype. The main characters in Selys’ description are: pseudostigma in both wings with 5 - 7 cells and 1 or 2 cells in the row below, on adults black, and yellowish, dark brown on young; apex of wings of adult fully hyaline, of semi-adult infuscate, and milky on young; median lobe of prothorax with two large rounded reddish markings; two yellowish humeral lines originating in opposite directions, inner one touching the anterior border, but not the sinus, and outer one touching the sinus, but not the anterior border; mesepimeron reddish-brown; lower part of thorax with a large black median stripe not surrounded by black. According to Selys (1860, 1886), the species occurs in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Bahia and Minas Gerais.

This description is quite different from that of Burmeister (1839) by the whole mesepimeron reddish-brown, as well as similar color on the curved marking on the median lobe of the prothorax whereas in the M. amalia holotype these areas are supposedly bronze black. Another difference is the median black stripe on the venter in Selys’ specimens, and white in Burmeister’s (1839) description. Selys (1860, 1886) comments that the identification is very easy because of the reddish-brown mesepimeron, which is black in all other Mecistogaster . It is reasonable to assume that Selys’ description (1860, 1886) of M. amalia and not that of Burmeister (1839) has been used by all subsequent authors. This description fits well with that of M. amalia neotype described herein.