Cyclogomphus wilkinsi, Fraser, 1926

Payra, Arajush & Koparde, Pankaj, 2023, First descriptions of the females of Cyclogomphus heterostylus Selys, 1854 and Ictinogomphus distinctus Ram, 1985 from India, with comments on the status of Cyclogomphus wilkinsi Fraser, 1926 (Odonata: Gomphidae), Zootaxa 5319 (3), pp. 421-428 : 426

Status of Cyclogomphus wilkinsi in India

Cyclogomphus wilkinsi was described in Fraser (1926) from Hunse of Mysore, Karnataka. Prasad (1996) reported C. wilkinsi based on a single male specimen collected from the Moshi area of Pune, Maharashtra, nearly seven decades later. Since then, the species has been listed and reported in several publications, including those from Madhya Pradesh ( Tiple & Chandra 2013; Tiple et al. 2022), Maharashtra (Tiple et al. 2013; Tiple & Koparde 2015), and West Bengal ( Nayak & Roy 2016). After examining the photographs of C. wilkinsi (holotype and allotype) from the Natural History Museum, London, UK (https://data.nhm.ac.uk) and based on Fraser’s descriptions of C. wilkinsi ( Fraser 1926, 1934), we conclude that the C. wilkinsi records from the Central Indian landscape (Nagpur, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal) should be treated with caution. Because the specimens/photographs in the aforementioned literatures (from Nagpur, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal) resemble either C. ypsilon or C. heterostylus . Furthermore, a recent Odonata survey conducted in the Mula-Mutha river basin of Pune, Maharashtra from 2019 to 2022 yielded only C. ypsilon and C. heterostylus ( Koparde et al. 2023) . As a result, we believe that specimen examination is required to confirm the presence of C. wilkinsi in the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal. Males of C. wilkinsi can easily be separated from C. ypsilon and C. heterostylus by having vestigial humeral stripe broader at base and pointed at apex (small triangular humeral spot in C. ypsilon and C. heterostulus ), dorsum of S3–S7 with narrow yellow stripes along dorsal carina (S3–S7 with dorsal oval yellow spots in C. ypsilon and small elliptical spots in C. heterostylus ) and complete black stripe on interpleural suture reaching up to the spiracle (vestigial black stripe on interpleural suture backwardly directed, connected with the metapleural suture in C. heterostylus and separated in C. ypsilon ). We recommend a thorough assessment of C. wilkinsi records available in the literature as well as citizen science portals.