A team of researchers from National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, and Zoological Survey of India, Chennai, have stumbled upon three new species of colorful damselfly --blue-legged reedtail, Myristica reedtail and Shola reedtail from Western Ghats in South India.
Smaller and more slender than dragonflies, damselflies are weak fliers and usually spotted near water, found typically resting with the wings folded back along the body. They are touted as one of the most beautiful insects and are completely harmless to humans, do not sting or bite. The discovery of these three new species has pushed the number of species of damselflies in the region to 12.
Shantanu Joshi, researcher from the NCBS said that he spotted the damselfly at a Myristica swamp, a unique habitat endemic to the Western Ghats. “It was very small in size, flying among the roots of trees,” he said according to Research Matters, a science news portal.
On comparing them with the available descriptions of other damselflies, the researchers later realized that they had found a new species of damselfly belonging to the genus Protosticta. The study is published in the journal Zootaxa.
In India, species of damselfly from the genus Protosticta have only been found in the Western Ghats and the Eastern Himalaya. “In recent decades, scientists worldwide have discovered certain hotspots or centres of endemism such as the Western Ghats, which offer an excellent opportunity for evolution of new species,” said Shantanu, as per the portal. The other team members were K A Subramanian, R Babu, Krushnamegh Kunte and Duttaprasad Sawant.
To their surprise, they found two more undescribed species of the same genus among their collected samples. The blue-legged reedtail was spotted at the wet evergreen forests of Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala and Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve in Tamil Nadu. The Shola reedtail was found in the Meghamalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu, named after the Sholas (montane evergreen forests), the habitat of these species, said the website about the study which was partially supported by NCBS, the Department of Atomic Energy and the Rufford Small Grant.
According to Sneha from Research Matters, insects such as damselflies and dragonflies are closely associated with freshwater habitats and are a great indicator of the health of these ecosystems.