CHENNAI: A group of researchers has found that the Western Ghats is home to yet another new damselfly. The Francy’s Reedtail, as it has been named, was discovered by a group of researchers at the Travancore Nature History Society’s (TNHS), Odonata Research Group (TORG) and the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) from Kanichar panchayat in Kannur, a part of Brahmagiri Hills in the Western Ghats.
The damselfly was first spotted by Dr Vibhu Vipanchika, a dental surgeon and odonate enthusiast from Kannur. Later, TORG researchers Dr Kalesh Sadasivan, Vinayan P Nair, Dr Abraham Samuel, and Dr Muhammad Jafer Palot (ZSI) worked on the specimen and described it.
“The new damsel is named Francy’s Reedtail (Protosticta francyi sp. Nov.) after former zoology professor at St Thomas College, Thrissur, Dr Francy K Kakkassery, a pioneer in odonata (flying insects like damselflies) studies in Kerala. It’s a tribute to his contribution to odonate conservation and popularisation of the subject in the state,” say the researchers.
Francy’s Reedtail is distinguished from all other protosticta of Western Ghats by the long prothoracic spines in males, the structure of the tip of the male cerci and genital ligula. The discovery has been published in the recent issue of the journal Entomon. This is the third species of protoctista described by TORG researchers, the others being P. Ponmudiensis Kiran, Kalesh & Kunte, 2015, from Ponmudi in Thiruvananthapuram and P. Anamalaica Sadasivan, Nair & Samuel, 2022, from Peechi in Thrissur.
The genus protosticta consists of slender-built damselflies commonly known as reed tails or shadow damsels. They inhabit hill streams in tropical, subtropical, and temperate jungles of the Indian subcontinent and south-eastern Asia.
In India, they are distributed in the Western Ghats and the northeastern region towards Myanmar. The new species inhabits the mid-elevation streams in the Brahmagiri - Coorg landscape of the Western Ghats.
As per the latest studies, so far, 209 Odonata species have been identified in India, 82 endemics to the Western Ghats. Of these 183 species have been spotted in Kerala, with 70 endemics to the state. According to the TORG research team, recent discoveries call for more diversity explorations in the central Western Ghats.
Researchers discover new damselfly species in Brahmagiri Hills