WHAT IS THE TRUE LESTES VIRENS VIRENS (CHARPENTIER, 1825)?


Matthias Hartung, Berlin

The type of Lestes virens (Charpentier, 1825) has been re-discovered in the Museum of Natural History in Berlin, Germany (fig. 1). This museum is the successor to the 'Museum Berolinum', mentioned by CHARPENTIER (1825) as type locality. The type collection consists of two males from 'Lusitania'. One specimen appears to be a typical L. virens, the second one looks slightly different. It is remarkable that the typical specimen is tagged with an apparently rewritten label, "Lusitan. (=Portugal), Hoffmannsegg", whereas the "atypical" specimen bears a seemingly original label "Lusitan. - Hffsgg".

Nevertheless, in South Portugal in autumn 1980 (cf. HARTUNG, 1985, 1996), I found some specimens (fig. 2, 4) of the "atypical" Lestes virens form of the Berlin museum collection. Later, I was given further, similar specimens from Andalusia, Spain, found near Huelva (cf. map, fig. 5). The most prominent difference between this and the typical form is that the last third of the pterostigma (Pt) is whitish-yellow (fig. 3). In teneral specimens caught in May, the whole Pt is light ochreous in colour, but the apical third is even lighter coloured. In my collection I have three males and one female from Portugal and four males and two females from Andalusia. The bicoloured appearence of the Pt is similar in males and females. The genitalia are similar to these in L. virens. In addition, the yellowish humeral line is slightly broader than in specimens from other regions.

If there is no doubt that this "atypical" form is the predominant form of L. virens in the south-west of the Iberic Peninsula and that the corresponding form in the Berlin museum is the real type, then this form should to be renamed L. virens virens. Should thus be the case, then the L. virens forms found in other parts of the Mediterranean should be renamed in contrast to the northern subspecies Lestes virens vestalis.

Fig. 1: Type of Lestes virens (Charpentier, 1825) at Museum for Natural History, Berlin


Fig. 2: Lestes virens form from Milfontes, South West of Portugal

Fig. 3: Bicoloured pterostigma of the Lestes virens form,
Milfontes, South West of Portugal		 Fig. 4: Appendices of the Lestes virens form,
Milfontes, South West of Portugal

Fig. 5: Distribution of the findings of Lestes virens with bicoloured Pterostigma in the Southwest of the Iberian subcontinent and North West of Afrika

References

HARTUNG, M. (1985): Orthetrum trinacria (Sel.) as a part of the dragonfly fauna in southern Spain (Anisoptera: Libellulidae). Notul. odonatol. 2 (6): 101-102

HARTUNG, M. (1993): What is the true Lestes virens virens (Charpentier, 1825)? Abstr. Papers XII Int. Symp. Odonatol. (Osaka): 11-12

HARTUNG, M. (1996): Odonata from the Iberian Peninsula with a description of Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis almogravensis ssp.n. from Portugal. In: R. Jödicke (1996): Studies on Iberian dragonflies. Advances in Odonatology, Supplement 1: p. 53-59