KOCHI: Kerala-based researchers, Kalesh Sadasivan and Vinayan Nair from Travancore Nature History Society, along with the research team from Mumbai that included Sriram Bhakare, Pratima Pawar and Sunil Bhoite have discovered two new species of damselflies from Satara district of Maharashtra in the northern Western Ghats. The new damsels, commonly called Torrent Darts, are large insects belonging to the genus Euphaea which is the endemic species of the damselfly family. A report of the discovery was recently published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa.
The newly discovered species have been named Euphaea thosegharensis and Euphaea pseudodispar, and are endemic to Western Ghats. “The discovery happened in May last year when Bhakare posted some photographs of Euphaea damsels in the newly formed FB group ‘Odonates of Western Ghats’ of TORG (TNHS Odonata Research Group). Me and Vinayan Nair are the admins of this group.
The FB group, with around 1,400 members, have significantly contributed in popularising odonata studies in South India,” shares Kalesh, co-author of the research. Kalesh adds that “We have identified many additional characters of Euphaea of the Western Ghats. For example, tufts of ventral hairs on abdominal segments, the penile structure and sternite of S9 in the males, and vulvar scales of females, etc. We have also provided a taxonomic key to all known species of this genus in the Western Ghats.”
So far, only three native species of Euphaea are known from the Western Ghats. Euphaea fraseri is a very common species that are found from Kanyakumari to Maharashtra. While Euphaea dispar is restricted to a small area from South Canara and Coorg to Nilgiris.
The E cardinalis is found South of the Palghat gap in Anamalais, Palnis and Agasthyamalai Hills. The newly found species are restricted to Satara district and around Thoseghar and Kaas lake in Maharashtra.
“Euphaea thosegharensis is similar to the already know Euphaea cardinalis, while Euphaea pseudodispar is similar to Euphaea dispar. But they can be easily separated by colour and other details. These were probably overlooked for their similarity to other species of Euphaea,” said the authors.