Drepanosticta vietnamica Asahina, 1997

Dow, Rory A., Kompier, Tom & Phan, Quoc Toan, 2018, Drepanosticta emtrai sp. nov. from Vietnam with a discussion of Drepanosticta vietnamica Asahina, 1997 (Odonata: Zygoptera: Platystictidae), Zootaxa 4374 (2), pp. 273-282 : 279

Drepanosticta vietnamica Asahina, 1997

( Figs 17–20 )

Type material examined. 1 ♂ paratype, Ban A Chia, Hung Nga, Muong Lay, Lai Chau Province, Vietnam, 8 v 1995, in the National Museum of Nature and Science , Tokyo, Japan .

Remarks. The original description and illustrations of D. vietnamica are inadequate. The type series consists of the holotype and one male paratype, both collected at “Ban A Chia, Hung Nga, Muong Lay, Lai Chau Prov” on the 8th of May 1995 (Asahina 1997). Poor quality illustrations are given of the head and thorax and of the end of the abdomen; it is not stated whether the illustrations were made from the holotype or the paratype or both. The third author had already searched for these specimens in the National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo, Japan, where they are supposed to be deposited, but could only find one specimen, with the correct date, and labelled “ paratype ”; he made sketches of the anal appendages ( Figs 18–20 ) and a photograph of the head and thorax ( Fig. 17 ). The anal appendages of the paratype differ quite significantly from the illustrations in Asahina (1997). Asahina’s (1997: 108) figure 2 (drawn from the right hand side) appears to show a ventral subapical flap on the cerci, not visible in lateral view in Fig. 18 here (drawn from the left hand side), instead only a small rounded interior flap is visible in dorsal view ( Fig. 19 ). This difference raises doubts either over the accuracy of Asahina’s illustration or over whether the paratype actually belongs to the same species as the holotype. However, since it seems unlikely that, even in the last stages of his career, Asahina would have mixed two species with anal appendages as different as the two sets of illustrations suggest, we suppose that it is more likely that Asahina’s illustrations are inaccurate.

Figures

FIGURES 17–20. Drepanosticta vietnamica paratype: (17) head and thorax; (18) anal appendages, lateral view; (19) left cercus, dorsal view; (20) left paraproct,oblique dorsal view.