The final stadium larvae of Megalestes micans Needham, 1930 and M. kurahashii Asahina, 1985 are described and illustrated from Yunnan Province, China, and a key to the known larvae of seven species of the genus Megalestes is provided. All exuviae will be stored at the Invertebrate Collection of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences,…
Indocypha cyanicauda sp. nov. from southern Yunnan, China (Odonata: Chlorocyphidae)
Indocypha cyanicauda Zhang & Hämäläinen, spec. nov. (holotype ♂ from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China; deposited at the Kunming Natural History Museum of Zoology) is described and illustrated from both sexes and compared with its congener I. vittata. Brief notes on the ecology and behaviour of the new species are provided.
A new species of Nychogomphus (Anisoptera: Gomphidae) from Yunnan Province, China
Nychogomphus yangi sp. nov. is described from Yunnan, China (holotype ♂: Xishangbanna, Yunnan Province, China; deposited at the Shaanxi Bioresource Key Laboratory, Hanzhong, Shaanxi, China). The new species is described and illustrated and compared with its closest congener Nychogomphus lui.
Descriptions of two new Cephalaeschna species from Yunnan, China (Odonata: Aeshnidae)
Two new species, Cephalaeschna cornifrons sp. nov. and C. ordopapiliones sp. nov. from Yunnan Province, China, are described, illustrated in color and compared with known Chinese Cephalaeschna. All the holotypes are deposited in the Collection of Aquatic Animals, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. Brief notes on biology of…
Calicnemia soccifera sp. nov. from Yunnan, China (Zygoptera: Platycnemididae)
A new species, Calicnemia soccifera sp. nov. (holotype male: Jinping, Yunnan, China) is described and illustrated for both sexes. C. miniata is confirmed to occur in Xizang (Tibet), China, and preliminary taxonomic remarks on some Chinese species of Calicnemia are given.
First record of Ceriagrion fallax Ris (Odonata: Coenagrionidae) preying on small web-building spiders (Arachnida: Tetragnathidae)
In montane forest of south-western Yunnan, China, a female of Ceriagrion fallax was observed and photographed preying on a small web-building spider of the genus Leucauge. This is the first record of plucking an orb-weaver spider by a representative of the genus Ceriagrion. A brief discussion on the evolution of spider feeding behaviour in odonates…
Ovo-viviparity in the Odonata? The case of Heliocypha perforata (Zygoptera: Chlorocyphidae)
In this paper we record a likely instance of ovo-viviparity in a chlorocyphid damselfly from south-western China. If confirmed, this will be the first record of live birthing in the Odonata: indeed in any member of the Palaeoptera. The widespread Asian damselfly Heliocypha perforata (Percheron, 1835) is proposed to be, at least facultatively, viviparous. A
Archineura incarnata (Karsch, 1892) and Atrocalopteryx melli (Ris, 1912) in southern China (Odonata: Calopterygidae)
The calopterygines Archineura incarnata and Atrocalopteryx melli are subtropical habitat specialists, endemic to China, and sensitive to environmental change. We identified several sites with environmental deterioration from which the species seem to have disappeared; these species can be used as indicators of human disturbance. In this paper their distribution in China is mapped and information…