Drepanosticta tenella Lieftinck, 1935

Phan, Quoc Toan, Yokoi, Naoto, Makbun, Noppadon, Joshi, Shantanu, Subramanian, K. A., Ngo, Quoc Phu & Dow, Rory A., 2021, A review of the Drepanosticta carmichaeli-group, with the description of D. wildermuthi sp. nov. from the Central Highlands of Vietnam (Odonata: Zygoptera: Platystictidae), Zootaxa 5067 (2), pp. 187-210 : 202

Drepanosticta tenella Lieftinck, 1935

Drepanosticta tenella: Lieftinck (1935) : Original description of both sexes, “Gisting and environs”, Mount Tanggamus, Lampung, Sumatra, p. 7, Fig. 1; Lieftinck (1954): Distribution (western Sumatra added without details), habitat, p 37.

Notes. Lieftinck (1935) described D. tenella from the south of Sumatra, giving illustrations of the male anal appendages in dorsal and lateral view. Unfortunately Lieftinck’s description is made largely by comparison to the earlier published description ( Lieftinck 1929) of D. gazella Lieftinck, 1929 from Java (which does not belong in the D. carmichaeli -group based on the structure of its posterior pronotal lobe, also see the discussion here). Later Lieftinck (1954) added the west of Sumatra to the distribution of D. tenella without giving any details. The illustrations of the anal appendages of D. tenella in Lieftinck (1935) show cerci conforming to our definition of the D. carmichaeli - group (in fact resembling those of D. wildermuthi sp. nov., in lateral view) and also paraprocts conforming to the group, with a clear subbasal spur visible in both dorsal and lateral views. Although parts of the paraprocts are not visible in Lieftinck’s illustrations he states that they are “shaped much as in gazella ” and the paraprocts of D. gazella lack any character to distinguish it from the species of the D. carmichaeli -group. The prothorax of both sexes of D. tenella also conforms to the definition of the D. carmichaeli -group and we therefore include it in that group. The genital ligula of D. tenella has not been illustrated. Based on the measurements provided by Lieftinck (1935) this is the smallest member of the D. carmichaeli -group. However these measurements are from a single population and it is very likely that greater variation would be found if additional specimens were measured.

Distribution. Indonesia ( Sumatra) ( Fig. 13)