Atrocalopteryx, Dumont, Vanfleteren, De Jonckheere & Weekers, 2005

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 : 223

Atrocalopteryx

The genus ranges from Japan to China and northern Indochina and includes eight species. The larva is known for only one species, Atrocalopteryx atrata (Selys) which has a wide range from Japan to Korea and throughout most of China. It was first described by Asahina (1940) from an immature specimen, with the habitus, caudal gills and anterior mask depicted. Subsequently a description based on a F instar larva was provided by the same author ( Asahina 1956), who figured the prementum and labial palps, caudal gills, head and antenna and a habitus photograph. Further detail was provided by Ishida (1996). In the northern part of its range it overlaps with Calopteryx species, a genus not present in the Oriental region, and Ishida (1996) and Miyakawa (1983) demonstrate how it may be separated from sympatric species of that genus. In Indochina and south-eastern China the genus overlaps broadly with species of Matrona with which A. atrata larvae share some similarities, hence it is not certain if the key provided separates all species, but with interspecific variation in adult Atrocalopteryx being modest, we may suppose that this is true also of larvae. The clearest character distinguishing A. atrata from Matrona is the form of the prementum ( Fig. 31 ). The caudal gills of A. atrata , well depicted by ( Miyakawa 1983), are very similar in shape and proportions to those of known Matrona sp.

Figures

FIGURES 27–34. 27. Prementum of Calopterygidae showing measurements used in family key (based on Calopteryx japonica, redrawn from Miyakawa 1983). 28. Neurobasis chinensis, prementum and left labial palp (redrawn from Lieftinck 1965). 29. Matronoides cyaneipennis, prementum and labial palps (ventral view). 30. Matrona basilaris, prementum (dorsal view, drawn from Wang et al. 2017). 31. Atrocalopteryx atrata, prementum (dorsal view, redrawn from Miyakawa 1983). 32. Mnais tenuis, prementum (dorsal view, redrawn from Matsuki & Lien 1977). 33. Echo uniformis, prementum and left labial palp dorsal view (redrawn from Lieftinck 1965). 34. Psolodesmus mandarinus, prementum (dorsal view, redrawn from Matsuki & Lien 1978).