Notogomphus maathaiae sp. nov. (holotype ♂: Kenya, Western Province, Mt Elgon District, Mt Elgon, Rongai River, 2,361 m a.s.l., 1°02′19.4″N, 34°45′20.5″E, 06 vi 2000) is described from a series of 8 males and 3 females collected at montane forest streams in Kenya. The status and biogeography of this and other montane species are discussed.
During the course of a population genetic study of Trithemis stictica that included sites in Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Botswana and Zambia, two undescribed libellulid species were discovered in the Okavango and Upper Zambezi Floodplains. These were both previously identified as T. stictica. We describe the two species, T. morrisoni sp. nov. (holotype ♂: Namibia,…
Descriptions and illustrations of the final stadium larvae of Gomphidia bredoi, G. gamblesi and G. quarrei are presented, based on exuviae collected in Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Kenya and Namibia. The three species can be separated by the presence/absence and shape of an abdominal dorsal spine on segment 9, by the numbers of abdominal lateral spines…
The morphology of the last stadium larvae of the African Coryphagrion grandis is described for the first time, based on one exuvia and three last instar larvae from Kenya. Taxonomically important morphological characters are illustrated and discussed. Important characters are the shape of the larval caudal appendages, the labial palpi and the branched setae on…
Oviposition in water-filled tree holes and mating behaviour of Hadrothemis scabrifrons was observed in a lowland coastal forest in Kenya. Conforming with the predominant mode of oviposition in the Libellulidae, females of H. scabrifrons touch the water with their ovipositor while hovering above tree holes. Male behaviour is opportunistic: usually males perch and patrol in…
Trithemis bifida is reported for the first time from East Africa. Previously there were only two Afrotropical records of this species: one male from Zambia and one male from the Ivory Coast. The male of T. bifida is described and compared with the closely related T. donaldsoni which is also found in East Africa. Taxonomically…