Review of the genus Zygonoides, with description of the larvae and notes on 'zygonychine' Libellulidae (Odonata)

Abstract

and aggressive animals, which are among the most charismatic African dragonflies (e.g. Clausnitzer 2001, Silsby 2001). The genus traditionally includes one Madagascar species (O. lachesis Ris, 1912) and three species confined to continental tropical Africa: O. fraseri Pinhey, 1956, O. fuelleborni Grunberg, 1902 (with subspecies occidentis Ris, 1912) and O. lugubris Karsch, 1895. Zygonoides Fraser, 1957 was originally introduced as a genus for all species of Olpogastra except O. lugubris, but it was subsequently made a subgenus of Olpogastra by Pinhey (1961). The revision of Zygonoides was made necessary by the discovery of O. fraseri – previously known only from the Ugandan type series – in western Africa, which made the status of O. fuelleborni occidentis unclear, and by discovery of larvae of all four mainland taxa. In this paper we (1) reassess the status of Zygonoides, (2) revise and diagnose its species, (3) describe larval characters of all continental Zygonoides taxa, and (4) compare it with related genera.