NANCY CAROLINA ROJAS-RIAÑO¹

¹ Biologist. Graduate student M.Sc., Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogotá. Carrera 30 no. 45-03 AA. 7495. Bogotá D.C., Colombia. ncrojasr@unal.edu.co

Recibido: 29-mar-2010 - Aceptado: 28-oct-2010

Coenagrionidae is a cosmopolitan family and the largest in the order Odonata with about 1100 described species. However Anisagrion is a genus with only four species: Anisagrion allopterum Selys, 1876, A. inornatum (Selys, 1876), A. kennedyi Leonard, 1937, and A. truncatipenne Calvert, 1902, with a distribution range from Mexico south to Panama, Venezuela and southern Ecuador (Garrison et al. 2010). Anisagrion is a coenagrionid genus of medium body size. Its most common color pattern is as follows: head, thorax, and dorsum of abdomen black with pale areas blue, yellow, or light green. Male cerci of Anisagrion are unique by their entire dorsal surface forming an oval membranous depression (von Ellenrieder and Garrison 2009), and additional diagnostic characters for the genus are found in Garrison et al. (2010).

The genus Anisagrion was erected by Selys in 1876 with A. allopterum as the type and the variety A. allopterum rubicundum as a doubtful form. However, this form was subsequently synonymized with A. allopterum by Calvert (1901- 1908) because the coloration pattern of the abdomen, a difference proposed by Selys, may be simply a consequence of the age of the specimen. Later Leonard (1937) described A. kennedyi from Panama. In 2005 De Marmels and Garrison transferred Leptagrion? [sic] inornatum Selys, 1876 to the genus Anisagrion and synonymized Leptagrion? [sic] rufum with A. inornatum. Leptagrion? [sic] rufum was questionably assigned to Leptagrion by Selys (Costa and Garrison 2001).

A. inornatum differs from the other species of the genus by the following characters (characters for other species are described in parenthesis): shape of the apices of both wings equal (apex of forewing truncated in A. truncatipenne); distal lobes of male genital ligula without internal projection (with internal projection in A. allopterum); and cerci oval with apices much wider than their bases (rounded in A. allopterum).

A. inornatum is here registered for Colombia for the first time, being this also the first record of the genus for the country. The specimens were collected in the northeast of the Andes in a tropical forest in Boyacá Department. They are deposited in the insect collection of the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales of the National University of Colombia. This species was previously known from Venezuela (Aragua, Miranda, Lara, Táchira, and Trujillo States) and Ecuador (Loja Prov.) (De Marmels and Garrison 2005; Rácenis 1953, 1958).

Given its geographical position and diversity of ecosystems, Colombia has been considered a mega-diverse country. Nevertheless, biodiversity of some insects groups in Colombia has been poorly studied, as is the case with dragonflies and damselflies; Odonata knowledge is poor in Colombia compared with that in other South American countries (Rojas- R and Sánchez 2009). According with Paulson (2004), Colombia has had little progress since the study by Santos (1981). The first checklist to be published for Colombia is underway (Pérez and Palacino submited) and includes 330 species, representing 90 genera. Considering the new record of Gomphomacromia fallax (Corduliidae) (Bota-Sierra et al. 2010) and the present record of the Anisagrion inornatum, the diversity of Odonata for Colombia is increased to 332 species and 92 genera.

Material studied: 3 M Anisagrion inornatum (Selys, 1876): COLOMBIA. Boyacá Department. Santa María. Icacuye. 4°53'42,8''N 73°16'43''W. 843 m.a.s.l. 28-dec-2008. A. Penagos & F. Palacino. Insect Collection of the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales [ICN 043490, 043491, 043494].

The examined specimens differ from the original description in their color pattern as follows (characters from original description translated from the French by Costa and Garrison 2001 in parenthesis): head black dull dorsally (orangish russet); prothorax black with lateral edges green pale (russet); pterothorax black dorsally with green pale antehumeral stripe present (russet, a little darker dorsally); abdomen shiny black dorsally (orangish russet dorsally), olive green ventrally (yellow). According to Garrison et al. 2010, these differences in color pattern are due to ontogenetic variability, with immature specimens being mostly orange or yellow.

To the Systematics and Insect Comparative Biology Lab of the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales for the specimens collected. To Jürg De Marmels and Natalia von Ellenrieder for confirming the determinations of the specimens. To Carlos Sarmiento, Julieta Brambila, and the anonymous reviewers for their comments to the manuscript.

BOTA-SIERRA, C.; BAENA-BEJARANO, N; BERMÚDEZ, C. 2010. Primeros registros de Gomphomacromia fallax (Odonata, Corduliidae) en Colombia. Revista Colombiana de Entomología 36(2): 333-334.        [ Links ]

CALVERT, P. 1901-1908 Odonata. Biologia Centrali-Americana. London: R. H. Porter and Dulau and Co., 17-420 p.        [ Links ]

COSTA, J. M.; GARRISON, R. W. 2001. Description of the female of Leptagrion aculeatum Santos, 1965 with keys to the known species (Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae). Odonatologica 30(4): 381-394.        [ Links ]

DE MARMELS, J.; GARRISON, R. W. 2005. Review of the genus Leptagrion in Venezuela with new synonymies and descriptions of a new genus, Bromeliagrion, and a new species, B. rehni (Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae). Canadian Entomologist 137: 257- 273.        [ Links ]

GARRISON, R. W.; VON ELLENRIEDER, N.; J. A. LOUTON. 2010. Damselfly genera of the New World. An Illustrated and Annotated Key to the Zygoptera. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. 490 p.        [ Links ]

LEONARD, J. W. 1937. A new Anisagrion from Panama, with notes on related species (Odonata: Zygoptera). Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology No. 354. University of Michigan.        [ Links ]

PAULSON, D. R. 2004. Critical species of Odonata in the Neotropics. International Journal of Odonatology 7: 163-188.        [ Links ]

PÉREZ, G, L. A.; PALACINO-RODRÍGUEZ, F. An updated checklist of the Odonata from Colombia. Odonatologica [submited].        [ Links ]

RÁCENIS, J. 1953. Records of Venezuelan Odonata, with a description of a new species. Opuscula Entomologica, 18: 180-189.        [ Links ]

RÁCENIS, J. 1958. Los Odonatos neotropicales en la colección de la Facultad de Agronomía de la Universidad Central de Venezuela. Acta Biológica Venezuelica 2(19): 179-226.        [ Links ]

ROJAS, N. C.; SÁNCHEZ, M. 2009. New records of Acanthagrion (Odonata: Coenagrionidae) from Colombia. Bulletin of American Odonatology 11(1): 17-19.        [ Links ]

SANTOS, N. D. 1981. Odonata (p. 64-85). In: Hurlbert, S. H.; Rodriguez, G.; dos Santos, N. D. (eds.) Aquatic Biota of Tropical South America. Part 1. Arthropoda. San Diego State Univ. San Diego. United States.        [ Links ]

SELYS-LONGCHAMPS, E. De. 1876. Synopsis des Agrionines, cinquième légion: Agrion (suite). Le genre Agrion. Bulletin de l'Académie royale de Belgique, 41(2): 247-322, 496-539, 1233- 1309, 490-531, 952-990.        [ Links ]

VON ELLENRIEDER, N.; GARRISON, R. W. 2009. Capítulo 4. Odonata. (p. 95-143). En: Domínguez, E.; Fernández, H. R. (eds.) Macroinvertebrados bentónicos sudamericanos. Sistemática y biología. Fundación Miguel Lillo, Tucumán, Argentina.        [ Links ]