Aeshna petalura Martin, 1908

Zhang, Hao-Miao & Cai, Qing-Hua, 2014, Aeshna shennong sp. nov., a new species from Hubei Province, China (Odonata: Anisoptera: Aeshnidae), Zootaxa 3795 (4), pp. 489-493 : 489-491

Aeshna petalura Martin, 1908

Figures 8–10

Material examined. 9 ♂ 1 ♀, Mt. Emeishan (29°35'N, 103°23'E), altitude 1400 m, Emeishan City, Sichuan Province, China, Haomiao Zhang leg., 15–25 viii 2007; 1 ♂, Mt. Qingchenshan (30°54'N, 103°28'E), altitude 1100 m, Sichuan Province, Dujiangyan City, China, Haomiao Zhang leg., 31 viii 2007; 1 ♂, Mt. Doupengshan (26°21'N, 107°23'E), altitude 1100 m, Duyun City, Guizhou Province, China, Haomiao Zhang leg., 31 viii 2012.

Distribution. Bhutan, China (Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Taiwan), India and Nepal.

Discussion. This species was described from Taiwan as a subspecies of A. petalura : A. petalura taiyal Asahina, 1938 . It was first recorded from mainland China by Wilson (2005), based on a male collected in Mao’ershan, Guangxi Province. Our records from Sichuan and Guizhou increase considerably its range in the montane area (altitude above 1000 m) of southern China. Adults of this species are strong flyers, and many males were observed flying high (at about 6 m over the ground) in the valleys in Mt. Emeishan, Sichuan Province. They were also observed flying in the rain and foraging during most of the day. All the males were collected on sunny days when they flew near the ground in a valley, but in gloomy weather they did not fly low. All the specimens collected in late August in Sichuan and Guizhou were mature, indicating that their flight period begins in late summer.

Figures

FIGURES 8 – 13. Anal appendages of Aeshna petalura (8 – 10) and of holotype of A. shennong (11 – 13): (8, 11) lateral view; (9, 12) dorsal view; (10, 13) posterior view.