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Kerala’s damselfly checklist gets a new member

Published: 4th Aug, 2022

Context

A new damselfly species from the Western Ghats has been added to odonates’ checklist of Kerala.

About

About the new species:

  • Name: Anamalai Reed-tail (scientific name: Protosticta anamalaica Sadasivan, Nair and Samuel, 2022).
  • Anamalai Reed-tail first spotted at Peechi Wildlife Sanctuary.
  • The tiny insect was first spotted at Ponmudi hills in the Peechi Wildlife Sanctuary that forms part of the Nelliampathies–Anamalais sub-unit of the Munnar landscape.
  • The genus Protosticta Sels, 1885, 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 north-eastern region towards Myanmar.
  • The genus was described from Sulawesi in Indonesia.
  • There are 15 species of Protosticta in India, among which 12 inhabit the Western Ghats.
  • Kerala has 182 odonates’ species with 69 endemics.

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