Zygoptera

Schneider, Thomas, Ikemeyer, Dietmar, Müller, Ole & Dumont, Henri J., 2018, Checklist of the dragonflies (Odonata) of Iran with new records and notes on distribution and taxonomy, Zootaxa 4394 (1), pp. 1-40 : 18-27

Zygoptera

In contrast to former lists of the Iranian Odonata ( Schmidt 1954, Dumont & Heidari 1996), we could simplify the Calopteryx complex of the country. Only three subspecies of the Calopteryx genus can be found in Iran: Calopteryx splendens orientalis , C. s. tschaldirica , and C. s. intermedia ( Fig. 2 ), which hybridize in their contact zones.

Pure populations of C. s. orientalis are impressive and large animals, usually larger than all other subspecies of C. splendens . The core populations in N-Iran are found along the southern fringe of the Caspian Sea in the provinces Gilãn, Mazandarãn, and W-Golestãn. The females in this core region are androchrome. Populations on both edges of the core distribution in the NW and in the NE become smaller, with the smallest animals in Ardabil and Khorãsãn-e-Razavi. There the females are predominantly heterochrome. Hybrids between C. s. intermedia and C. s. orientalis have been observed by one of us (HD) in southern Azerbaijan on the border to Iran (Dumont 2004). Calopteryx s. intermedia is the most widespread Calopteryx in Iran reaching Darab (E-Fãrs province) in SE-Iran, but the Calopteryx genus is absent from SE-Iran. In the extreme NW edge of Iran, on the catchment of Aras River C. s. tschaldirica , a taxon of hybrid origin according to Dumont et al. (1987) is present. Hybridization of the latter with C s. intermedia is intensive in NW-Azarbãyejãn-e-Garbi. There, intermediate, sometimes fully hyaline forms can be found ( Fig. 3 ), that was certainly at the origin or the erroneous record of C. hyalina by Rastegar et al. (2013).

Epallage fatime is widespread in Iran reaching in the SE to W-Hormozgãn. The species is absent further east, including the province Sistãn-va-Baluchestãn.

In Iran there are green metallic and non-metallic members of the Lestes genus. Lestes dryas was reported for Iran only recently (Kiany et al. 2016, Schneider & Ikemeyer, 2017). Lestes macrostigma was not reported from Iran so far ( Fig. 4 ). We could find large numbers of the latter species around Lake Urmia and on other places in NW-Iran in 2017.

The non-metallic L. concinnus is found in two colour-variants in SE-Iran. Recently it was shown, that L. thoracicus is a synonym of L. concinnus using material collected in SE-Iran ( Dumont et al. 2017). All records of Chalcolestes viridis from Iran actually pertain to C. parvidens , as Iran lies within the geographical range of the latter and C. viridis does not cross the Caucasus range to the South and the Southeast and does not occur in Iran ( Schmidt 1954, Boudot & Kalkman 2015, Kosterin & Solovyev 2017).

All three Sympecma species are present in Iran. Sympecma gobica was only recently demonstrated to occur in that country ( Jeziorski 2013, Ikemeyer et al. 2015), since the old record by Valle (1942) (12.VI.1901) from Sulukly (= Siluklu = Sulugly), Kopet Dagh (37.69091°N, 57.27757°E) near Bojnurd in Iran was based only on colour pattern identification instead of structural features and is unreliable. The distribution of the latter species in E-Iran represents the western distribution limit of the species ( Fig. 5 ). The three species can easily be separated by the male appendices ( Fig. 6 ). The thoracic marking used in Europe for distinguishing S. fusca from S. paedisca in the field may fail in Iran, as some specimens of S. paedisca especially in E-Iran have reduced thoracic markings.

Agriocnemis pygmaea is the only member of its genus in Iran and restricted to the Sistãn-va-Baluchestãn province . Our findings here are the second for the country.

Nine members of Ischnura are known from Iran. Three reach their western range frontier in E-Iran ( I. forcipata , I. rubilio , I. nursei , Fig. 7 ). Ischnura rubilio was listed in older checklists as I. aurora ( Schmidt 1954, Heidari & Dumont 2002), for details see Schneider et al. (2015a). The two sister species I. forcipata and I. intermedia are separated by the central deserts Loot and Kavir, with I. forcipata restricted from Eastern Iran to Central Asia and the Hymalaya ( Dumont & Borisov 1995, Dumont & Heidari 1996, Heidari & Dumont 2002, Borisov & Haritonov 2007, Borisov 2014, Schneider & Ikemeyer 2016b) and I. intermedia spreading from western Iran to Cyprus and in the Kopet Dagh in Turkmenistan ( Dumont & Borisov 1995, Haritonov & Borisov 2007, Boudot & Kalkman, 2015, De Knijf et al. 2016).

Ischnura senegalensis ( Fig. 7 ) and I. fountaineae are restricted to S-Iran, while I. pumilio is spread through the whole country. The old records of I. senegalensis from Iran are uncertain and already Schmidt stated that the species should be confirmed for Iran ( Martin 1912, Schmidt 1954). Some members of the family are not easy to separate and a long lasting confusion occurred in the past between I. senegalensis and I. fountaineae in the Caspian/Caucasus area, with many records of the former recently corrected to the later ( Haritonov 1988, Skvortsov & Kuvaev 2010); therefore, we show the male appendices of I. evansi , I. fountaineae , I. senegalensis , I. pumilio , I. intermedia , and I. forcipata ( Fig. 8 ), the distribution of I. elegans , I. evansi , and I. fountaineae is shown in Fig. 9 .

Two Enallagma cyathigerum subspecies occur in Iran. They are geographically separated by a different preference for climate conditions ( Fig. 10 ). The nominotypical subspecies is found in the wet and colder regions of N-Iran, while E. c. risi occurs in the drier and hotter regions of the Zagros Mountains and NE-Iran. The two subspecies can only be identified by looking at male appendices using a lens ( Fig. 11 ). This is the reasons that most of the E. cyathigerum records by Schmidt (1954) have been converted to E. c. risi (except for Mamudieh).

At least eight Coenagrion species occur in Iran. Coenagrion persicum is endemic to Iran ( Lohmann 1993a, Schneider et al. 2016). Three members of the genus are here reported for the first time from Iran ( C. lunulatum , C. ponticum , C. pulchellum ). Coenagrion lunulatum was found emerging end of May 2017 in the high Talysh Mountains near Lake Neor and flying on two ditches on the Armenian Highland in July 2017 ( Fig. 12 , left). Coenagrion ponticum ( Fig. 12 , right) has been found together with C. australocaspicum on a richly vegetated pond in the Hyrcanian Forest in the Gilãn province. C. puella occurs only in the extreme NW edge of the country ( Fig. 13 ). Thus, three members of the puella -group ( C. puella , C. ponticum , and C. australocaspicum ) exist in Iran. The distribution of these members is shown ( Fig. 13 ). They can be easily confused; therefore a comparison of the male appendices is provided ( Fig. 14 ). Furthermore, on the Armenian Highland C. pulchellum , with very dark-black males were detected in 2017 ( Fig. 15 , left). Such individuals were earlier described as a subspecies named saisanicum ( Belyshev 1964), which is not followed by modern taxonomy.

Erythromma is present with two species in Iran. Erythromma viridulum is common and widely distributed. Most individuals of E. lindenii from Iran show all the characters of the subspecies E. l. zernyi described by Erich Schmidt (1939) ( Fig. 15 , right). The Fãrs population may represent the most eastern one and a relict of a relatively pure population of this presumed vanishing subspecies (Dumont et al. 1995). Intermediate forms were found recently in Iraq ( Porter 2016).

Two members of Pseudagrion occur in Iran, P. decorum and P. laidlawi , both restricted to the SE. Reproductive populations have been detected only recently ( Schneider & Dumont 2015). A male P. laidlawi ( Fig. 16 , left) and a magnification of the male appendix is shown in Fig. 16 (right).

In Iran two Platycnemidids occur. P. kervillei has its eastern range limit in W-Iran, and was only recently recorded here ( Schneider & Ikemeyer 2016a). P. dealbata is widely present in the whole country.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Male Calopteryx splendens from Iran, above: Calopteryx s. orientalis (35.34757°N, 60.19286°E, Khorãsãn-e- Razavi, 1403 m, 10.VI.2016), middle: C. s. tschaldirica (Azarbãyejãn-e-Garbi, location 141), below: C. s. intermedia (Kermãnshãh, location114). Photos DI.

FIGURE 3. Calopteryx splendens complex in NW-Iran: Different wing colourations in Calopteryx males from NW- Azarbãyejãn-e-Garbi (location 135), starting from hyaline wings on the left, typical tschaldirica, hybrid between tschaldirica and intermedia, to pure ntermedia on the right.

FIGURE 4. Male of Lestes macrostigma in NW-Azarbãyejãn-e-Garbi, location 124. Photo DI.

FIGURE 5. Distribution of Sympecma fusca (dots), S. paedisca (triangles), and S. gobica (squares) in Iran. Closed symbols: records from 2010 onwards, open symbols: recordsbefore 2010.

FIGURE 6. Male appendices of the three Sympecma species: The position of the basal tooth on the appendix superior in comparison to the length of the appendix inferior is different. In S. gobica (mountain brook, Khorãsãn-e-Shomali) the basal tooth is located just on the end of the appendix inferior (A), in S. paedisca (Atrak River, Khorãsãn-e-Shomali) the appendix inferior ends before the basal tooth of the appendix superior (B), and in S. fusca (mountain brook, Azarbãyejãn-e-Garbi) the appendix inferior ends distal from the tooth of the appendix superior (C), (t—tooth, a—appendix inferior). Drawing OM.

FIGURE 8. Male appendices from lateral view: A I. fountaineae, B I.evansi, C I. pumilio, D I. intermedia, E I. forcipata, and F I. senegalensis.Drawing OM.

FIGURE 9. Distribution of I. elegans (above, triangles), I. evansi (middle, dots), and I. fountaineae (below, squares) in Iran. Closed symbols:records from 2010 onwards, open symbols:records before 2010.

FIGURE 10. Distribution of Enallagma c. cyathigerum (dots) and Enallagma c. risi (triangles) in Iran. Closed symbols: records from 2010 onwards, open symbols: recordsbefore 2010.

FIGURE 11. Enallagma c. risi A, C (desert lake, Kermãn) and B, D Enallagma c. cyathigerum (Lake Valasht, Mazandarãn), male appendices from lateral and dorsal view.Drawing OM.

FIGURE 12. Males of left: Coenagrion lunulatum (Azarbãyejãn-e-Sharqi, location 131) and right: Coenagrion ponticum (Gilãn, location 77).Photos DI.

FIGURE 13. Distribution of the members of the Coenagrion puella-group in Iran (C. puella (dots), C. ponticum (square), and C.australocaspicum (triangles) in Iran.Closed symbols: recordsfrom 2010 onwards, open symbols: records before 2010.

FIGURE 14. Coenagrion puella-group, male appendices in doral view of the three members of this group from Iran, from the left to the right:A: C. puella, B: C. ponticum, and C: C. australocaspicum.

FIGURE 15. Males of left: Coenagrion pulchellum (Azarbãyejãn-e-Garbi, location 133) and right: Erythromma lindenii zernyi (Kordestãn, location 108). Photos DI.

FIGURE7. Male Ischnuraspecimens from Sistãn-va-Baluchestãn, above left: Ischnura forcipata (location 4), above right: I. senegalensis (location 16), below left: I.nursei (location 8), below right: I. rubilio (location 6). Photos DI.

FIGURE16.Male (PhotoDI) and itsappendix (in a lateral view,Photo TS) of Pseudagrion laidlawi25.75466°N, 61.46081°E, dam Sarbaz river, Sistãn-va-Baluchestãn (location 14), 17.IV.2015.