Rhinocypha, Rambur, 1842

Orr, Albert G. W., 2024, A review of present knowledge of larvae of the Calopterygoidea (Zygoptera) of the Oriental realm, including keys to families and known genera, Zootaxa 5497 (2), pp. 209-243 : 231

Rhinocypha

The 45 species of this diverse genus occur throughout most of the Oriental Realm with two species confined to the western Oceanic Realm (sensu Holt et al. 2013). The larvae of just three species have been described and illustrated. These are Rhinocypha ignipennis Selys ( Fraser 1920, 1928), and R. ogasawarensis Oguma , R. uenoi Asahina. The latter two species are both figured in detail by Ishida (1996), with habitus and details of prementum, labial palps, caudal gills and gonoapophyses being shown. These however were not fully mature specimens and habitus drawings based on exuviae with details of the mask and prementum were provided by Sugimura et al. (2001), together with a key which notes some differences in the antennae and caudal spikes of the two species. Rhinocypha ogasawarensis was also earlier briefly described and partially figured from an exuvia by Asahina (1956). Although not shown in detail by Fraser (1928), it is clear that R. ignipennis conforms to a typical chlorocyphid pattern with long thin spikes and a short sagittate head. The Japanese species have unusually short caudal spikes, as noted above, and the head is more elongate, at least in figures provided by Ishida (1996). Despite being closely related ( Wang et al. 2013) these two species differ markedly in the shape of the prementum, and in minor details of the palpal lobe armature ( Ishida 1996) and antennae ( Sugimura et al. 2001), dissimilarities which perhaps reflect ecological differences. The genus is very diverse, and as noted by Dijkstra et al. (2014) ‘non monophyletic’, hence a good deal of variation may be expected among the larvae.