Copera vittata

Copera vittata[2][1] is a species of damselfly in the family Platycnemididae. It is native to Asia, where it is widely distributed from India to Indonesia.[1][3] It is known commonly as the blue bush dart.[4][5] There are several subspecies and it may represent a species complex.[1]

Copera vittata
Male
Female
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Odonata
Suborder:
Zygoptera
Family:
Platycnemididae
Genus:
Copera
Species:
C. vittata
Binomial name
Copera vittata
(Selys, 1863)
Synonyms
  • Psilocnemis vittata Selys, 1863
  • Psilocnemis serapica Hagen in Selys, 1863
  • Psilocnemis atomaria Selys, 1886
  • Psilocnemis acutimargo Krüger, 1898

Description and habitat

It is a medium-sized damselfly with brown-capped yellow eyes with a narrow equatorial black band encircling them. Its thorax is black on dorsum with a narrow bluish-yellow humeral stripe, split in two and overlap each other. This stripe is followed by a broad black fascia, on the middle of the lateral side of the thorax, peppered with small pale yellow spots. The lateral sides beyond this is yellow, marked with an irregular black stripe on the anterior border of postero-lateral suture, and another one on the middle portion of metepimeron. Abdomen is black on dorsal half up to segment 8; paler on ventral half and with bluish-white basal annules. Segment 9 is black on basal half and bluish-white on apical half. Segment 10 is bluish-white.[6]

Anal appendages are pale blue or creamy white. The superiors are as long as segment 10, conical, and tapered at apices. The inferiors nearly twice the length of superiors. The inferiors are pale within, blackish-brown externally. In the related species, Copera marginipes, the superiors are half the length of segment 10 and inferiors are at least four times the length of superiors. The inferiors tipped with black beneath.[6]

The female is more robust compared to the male, dull in colors and marks less conspicuously defined. Tenerals of both sex can be whole white with few black markings.[6]

Commonly found in among undergrowth along the banks of rivers and streams, often in the hills.[6][7][8][4][5]

See also

References
  1. Subramanian, K.A. (2010). "Copera vittata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2010: e.T167387A6339890.
  2. Martin Schorr; Dennis Paulson. "World Odonata List". University of Puget Sound. Retrieved 12 Oct 2018.
  3. K.A., Subramanian; K.G., Emiliyamma; R., Babu; C., Radhakrishnan; S.S., Talmale (2018). Atlas of Odonata (Insecta) of the Western Ghats, India. Zoological Survey of India. pp. 101–102. ISBN 9788181714954.
  4. "CCopera vittata Selys, 1863". India Biodiversity Portal. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  5. "Copera vittata Selys, 1863". Odonata of India, v. 1.00. Indian Foundation for Butterflies. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  6. C FC Lt. Fraser (1933). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma, Odonata Vol. I. Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, London: Taylor and Francis. pp. 198-201.
  7. C FC Lt. Fraser (1924). A Survey of the Odonate (Dragonfly) Fauna of Western India with Special Remarks on the Genera Macromia and Idionyx and Descriptions of Thirty New Species (PDF). Zoological Survey of India. Volumes (Records). p. 498.
  8. Subramanian, K. A. (2005). Dragonflies and Damselflies of Peninsular India - A Field Guide.

Data related to Copera vittata at Wikispecies

Media related to Copera vittata at Wikimedia Commons


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