A new species of damselfly, Protosticta ponmudiensis (Odonata: Zygoptera: Platystictidae) from Ponmudi Hills in the Western Ghats of India

1,2 Travancore Natural History Society, MBRRA-65, Jyothis, Mathrubhumi Road, Vanchiyoor, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695035, India 1,2 Indian Foundation for Butterflies, C-703, Alpine Pyramid, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560097, India 2,3 National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bellary Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560065, India 1 cgkiran@gmail.com (corresponding author), 2 kaleshs2002in@gmail.com, 3 krushnamegh@ncbs.res.in

The current taxonomy of Indian Protosticta Selys, 1885 is largely dependent on Fraser's work (1933).Based on Schorr-Martin et al. ( 2014) and considering P. mortoni as distinct species (Fraser 1933), there are at least 41 species in the world.The genus is represented in India by 10 species (Subramanian 2014), seven of which occur in the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot.An overview of Protosticta Selys, 1885 in India, based on Fraser (1933), Kimmins (1958), Terzani & Carletti (1998), Kiran & Raju (2013) and IUCN (2014), is given in Table 1.Here we describe a new Protosticta species from the Agasthyamalai region of southern Kerala in southern Western Ghats.

Materials and Methods
The authors have been documenting the Odonata diversity of the Agasthyamalai Hills of southern Western Ghats over the past decade.During a field visit in 2013 a large unidentified male Protosticta was observed by the second author on a roadside hill-stream near a tea estate at Ponmudi Hills (8.746 0 N & 77.127 0 E), Thiruvananthapuram District, southern Kerala, India (Image 1).It was perched on a dry climber approximately 1.5m above the ground inside the shaded parts of the stream.The specimen was photographed, including its anal appendages, but could not be placed as any known species of Indian Protosticta.Subsequently, we collected three more male specimens from the same locality in the Ponmudi Hills, two of which were pinned for taxonomic work and one was preserved whole in 100% ethanol for molecular phylogenetic work.Adult specimens were photographed with a Canon EOS 7D camera body and Canon 100mm 2.8f macro lens, and anal appendages with Canon MPE65 2.8f macro lens.All four type specimens were deposited in a completely climate-controlled research collections facility at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru (=Bangalore), India.dorsum of anterior lobe dirty brownish-white, middle lobe with a pale blue spot and posterior lobe is brown, furnished with a pair of short lateral spine directed posterio-laterally and internal to these there are two medial spines of same length as the lateral pair directed posteriorly (Image 5).Synthorax: dorsum dark metallic green, mesepimeron with superior half metallic green, anteriorly brown; inferior half pale blue, bordered with black near the interpleural suture.Metepimeron is pale bluish but bordered with black near the interpleural suture.The ventral side of thorax is pale, dirty white or yellowish with a greenish tinge.Legs: coxa and trochanter creamy white.Femur brownish, joints darker, flexor surface of tibia bluish-white, tarsus brown and claw reddish-brown.Wings: hyaline, nervure IA absent and Cu2 markedly reduced.Sectors of arc confluent at and for some distance from origin.Nervure ab entirely absent (Fig. 1).Forewing with 16 and hindwing with 15 post-nodal nervures.Pterostigma black in colour and trapezoidal in shape (Fig. 1).Abdomen: blackishbrown, paler on the sides.Inferior lateral aspect of segments 1 to 3 pale bluish-white, segments 3 to 6 with a pale proximal annulus, narrow on S3, wider on others, continued lower laterally for a distance, less than one fifth of the length of the segment.Segment 7 with a broad bluish annular patch, paler proximally, occupying 3/4 th of the dorsum and 1/3 rd of the ventrum including the sternite from base.Segment 8 with single narrow bluish-white basal annulus.Anal appendages: superior   appendages black, inferior appendages proximally dirty white, distally black with a bluish tinge especially on the ventral and proximal half and base of the spine (see below).Superior appendages are slim, gradually curved inwards but spatulate at apex, the medial margin of the spatula bears a small indentation, which is obvious in the superolateral than in the dorsal view.The length of the superior appendage is more than twice the length of segment 10 (Image 3A), and has a short interior dorsal spine directed posterior in the middle (Image 3B).

Protosticta ponmudiensis
Inferior appendages with a long finger-like spine curved inwards at the junction of its middle and distal third (Image 3C).Apex of the inferior appendages twisted and  Paratype males (NCBS-PW770, NCBS-PW771, and NCBS-PW772) agree with this description of the holotype and also in morphometric measurements (Table 2), and do not display significant variation.
Female: Unknown Early stages: Unknown.

Distinguishing features
The large size, bright green eyes and broad patch on abdominal segment 7 easily distinguishes this species from other sympatric Protosticta (P.gravelyi and P. davenporti) (Table 3).Further, the characteristic shape of the anal appendages distinguishes it from all known species of Protosticta (Fig. 2).The anal appendages have a construction similar to P. himalaica but differ in the shape of the superior appendage, which is longer than the inferior appendage and curved in P. ponmudiensis, while it is shorter than the inferior appendage and straighter in P. himalaica.The spine on the inferior appendage of P. himalaica is directed straight and medially, while in P. ponmudiensis it is curved inwards medially and directed posteriorly.The prothorax of P. ponmudiensis has two pairs of spines on its posterior lobe (medial and lateral pair), both pairs are of equal length in contrast to long medial spines in P. antelopoides.

Etymology
Named after the type locality (Ponmudi), a hill station near Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, where the species was discovered.

Distribution and ecology
Known so far only from the type locality in southern Western Ghats of Kerala.The type specimens were found perched on vegetation overhanging small streams in evergreen forest patches among tea estates in the type locality.They were always found near slow-flowing hill-streams and brooks.This species shares the habitat with other Protosticta (P.gravelyi and P. davenporti), and with other odonates (Caconeura spp., Euphea fraserii, Idionyx saffronata and Heliogomphus promelas).

Remarks
Other specimens observed and photographed from the type locality: (i) a mature male, locality data same as for the holotype, seen on 28 May 2013 but not collected, (ii) a mature male, locality data same as for the holotype, seen on 5 June 2013 but not collected.

Table 1 . Overview of genus Protosticta Selys, 1885 in India Image
1. Location of the type locality near Thiruvananthapuram, southern Kerala, India Protosticta ponmudiensis sp.nov.