Sympetrum paramo De Marmels, 2001

Bota, Cornelio Andrés, 2014, A brief look at the Odonata from the Páramo ecosystems in Colombia, with the descriptions of Oxyallagma colombianum sp. nov. and Rhionaeschna caligo sp. nov. (Odonata: Coenagrionidae, Aeshnidae, Libellulidae), Zootaxa 3856 (2), pp. 192-210 : 203

Sympetrum paramo De Marmels, 2001

Figs. 3 a (Emergence), 3b (Habitus ♂), Table 1 (coordinates).

Material examined. Páramo El Morro: 1♀ & 3♂, 6.x.2011, Leg: C. Bota & J. D. Castaño. Páramo Sabanas: 6♂, 1.x.2011, Leg: C. Bota & J. D. Castaño. Páramo El Congo: 3♀ & 11♂, 11 – 14.ix.2011, Leg: L. Ríos & J. Zapata. Laguna de Páez: 2♂, 1.ii.2013, Leg: C. Bota. 1♀ & 4♂, 3.ii.2013, Leg: C. Bota & C. Gómez. Alto de Pená: 1♂, 20.iii.2014, Leg: J. D. Álvarez.

Remarks. This species was assessed as data deficient in the IUCN red list (von Ellenrieder 2009), because it was only found in three localities in the eastern Mérida Cordillera ( Venezuela). Here it is recorded from four new localities, all of them situated inside protected areas, and approximately 200 and 400 km west of the type locality.

No morphological difference was observed between the four Colombian populations ( Fig. 2 b) and the description and illustrations by De Marmels (2001).

Distribution. From the Mérida Cordillera in Venezuela through the Oriental Cordillera in Santander to the Occidental Cordillera in Antioquia (including populations in the Central Cordillera) ( Colombia).

Biology. It is commonly seen in marshes and lakes, where males are very active around noon on sunny days. When females are caught in tandem the pair flies away, returning later to oviposit in tandem. One female was found during a cloudy day with sunny intervals during the final phase of emergence stage 3 ( Fig. 2 a) ( Corbet 1999); it was on the shore of a lake clinging to a sedge leaf at about 40 cm starting at 8:58 a.m., and it finally spread its wings at 10:21 a.m.

Figures

FIGURE 2. (a) Rhionaeschna peralta female (habitus). Rhionaeschna caligo: (b) Hamuli, ventroposterior view; (c) Caudal appendages lateral view; (d) Vesica spermalis ventral view; (e) left spine of anterior lamina. (f) Rhionaeschna joannisi male (habitus). Illustrations by Natalia Uribe Macias.

FIGURE 3. Sympetrum paramo: (a) Teneral female and exuvia (Páramo El Congo); (b) Male (Páramo El Morro). Erythrodiplax connata- group (Cauca, Timbio): (c) Mature male; (d) Immature male (same coloration as females).