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Odonata of Costa Rica: Diversity and checklist of species
Abstract
An updated list of the Odonata of Costa Rica is presented containing 268 species. Since the last published list for the country, 41 additional species have been reported. The country is the best studied in Central America. The most species-rich families are Libellulidae, Coenagrionidae, Gomphidae, and Aeshnidae, together comprising ∼75% of the total fauna. Most species in the country are also found in South America, indicating a tendency for wide ranges rather than endemism. However, about a fifth of the species appear to be endemic to the Costa Rica-Panama region. Estimates of the range of the proportion of total world species occurring in Costa Rica lead to predictions of a range of 5 600-9 000 species of Odonata worldwide.
... However, the diversity of Neotropical freshwater macroinvertebrates remains poorly described, and even less is known about the processes that drive their diversity, and the scale at which they operate [4]. For instance, despite considerable efforts by local taxonomists (e.g., [5][6][7][8], most of the published literature use genus and family as a standard taxonomic unit for Neotropical macroinvertebrates (e.g., [9][10][11][12][13][14]. This is partially due to the complexity of these communities, which are often composed of multiple life-stages existing at the interface between the terrestrial and aquatic environment [15,16]. ...
... In the laboratory, specimens were morphologically identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level (i.e., family or genus) using taxonomic keys for Neotropical macroinvertebrates [6,8,9,39]. However, given the low accuracy of morphological identification, and the fact that less than 50% of the individuals were successfully identified to species level using our barcoding data (see results), we focused our analyses and discussion on lineage rather than morphological diversity. ...
... This seems particularly relevant for taxa such as Hydropsychidae, Gerridae, Chironomidae, Leptophlebiidae, Libellulidae and Notonectidae, which showed high lineage/haplotype diversity across sites (S1 Fig; S1 Table). Some of these taxa also showed high haplotype diversity in a previous molecular study across Panama [25], and are thought to hold a high number of undescribed species in the Central American Isthmus [6,69]. Unfortunately, our analysis is limited by relatively small sample size, particularly at one of our sites (Río Indio), where we were only able to sequence 26 specimens. ...
Aquatic macroinvertebrates play a crucial role in freshwater ecosystems, but their diversity remains poorly known, particularly in the tropics. This “taxonomic void” limits our understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes in freshwater ecosystems, and the scale at which they operate. We used DNA barcoding to estimate lineage diversity (and the diversity of unique haplotypes) in 224 specimens of freshwater macroinvertebrates at a small spatial scale within the Panama Canal Watershed (PCW). In addition, we compiled available barcoding data to assess macroinvertebrate diversity at a broader spatial scale spanning the Isthmus of Panama. Consistently across two species delimitation algorithms (i.e., ABGD and GMYC), we found high lineage diversity within the PCW, with ~ 100–106 molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs) across 168 unique haplotypes. We also found a high lineage diversity along the Isthmus of Panama, but this diversity peaked within the PCW. However, our rarefaction/extrapolation approach showed that this diversity remains under-sampled. As expected, these results indicate that the diversity of Neotropical freshwater macroinvertebrates is higher than previously thought, with the possibility of high endemicity even at narrow spatial scales. Consistent with previous work on aquatic insects and other freshwater taxa in this region, geographic isolation is likely a main factor shaping these patterns of diversity. However, other factors such as habitat variability and perhaps local adaptation might be reshaping these patterns of diversity at a local scale. Although further research is needed to better understand the processes driving diversification in freshwater macroinvertebrates, we suggest that Neotropical streams hold a high proportion of hidden biodiversity. Understanding this diversity is crucial in the face of increasing human disturbance.
... The three species have wide distributions, and all of them were previously recorded in countries neighboring with Colombia. A. jessei was previously recorded at Guyana, Peru and Brazil (Leonard, 1977;IUCN, 2020); P. solutus includes Brazil and Suriname (Bastos et al., 2019;Belle, 2002;Calvão et al., 2014;Garcia-Júnior & Picanco-Souto, 2021;Machado, 2015); and N. minuta has a broader distribution including Cuba, Suriname, Costa Rica, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Guyana, United States of America, Guatemala, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago (De Marmels, 1984;Belle, 2002;Ramírez et al., 2000;Paulson & Dunkle, 2021;GBIF, 2021). The new reports of these species for Colombia highlight the importance of studying the odonatofauna, as much remains to be discovered. ...
We record for the first time Acanthagrion jessei, Nehalennia minuta, and Perilestes solutus in Colombia, based on males and females taken at the campus Barcelona at the Universidad de Los Llanos, located in the foothills of the Colombian Eastern Andes in the Orinoco river basin.
... Environmental hazards of pesticides from pineapple crop production in the Río Jiménez watershed (Caribbean Coast,Costa Rica). Science of the Total Environment 440: 106-114.Esquivel, A. 2000. First finding of male Aphanolaimus coomansi(Tsalolichin, 1988) in tropical areas.Esquivel, A. 2003. ...
E l Salvador es el país más pequeño de Centroamérica y a su vez presenta la densidad poblacional más alta. Entre los principales problemas ambientales predominantes en el ter ritorio están la deforestación, erosión y contaminación tanto de los recursos hídricos como del suelo. Los recursos hídricos son contaminados por desechos domésticos, industriales, agroindustriales y agropecuarios. Un
aspecto cultural que coadyuva al incremento de los niveles de contaminación de los
ríos, es el uso de sus cauces e incluso canaletas que conducen agua para riego, para el
lavado de vestimenta humana y la realización de otras actividades domésticas. El deterioro de los recursos hídricos también se ve favorecido por las descargas de ver tidos de origen doméstico e industriales que son depositadas en el cauce de los ríos sin
ningún tratamiento previo. Por lo anterior es imperativo realizar estudios que muestren los niveles de contaminación de las aguas continentales, debido a que hasta el
momento son muy limitadas las investigaciones que se han realizado. Sin embargo,
se ha logrado sistematizar alrededor de 60 trabajos relacionados con los macroinvertebrados acuáticos, con los primeros registros desde el año 1950. El mayor volumen
de estudios relacionados con los macroinver tebrados acuáticos como indicadores de la calidad de las aguas continentales super ficiales se inició en el año 1990. El interés
por el estudio de estos organismos en los ecosistemas acuáticos salvadoreños ha
evolucionado e incrementado muy recientemente y tales trabajos han sido realizados tanto por instituciones gubernamentales como no gubernamentales. El método
legalmente establecido en El Salvador para deter minar la calidad ambiental del agua
es mediante el uso de parámetros físico-químicos y microbiológicos, específicamente el Índice de Calidad de Agua (IC A), no así el uso de los macroinver tebrados acuá-
ticos, cuya metodología aún no ha sido de trámite legal. Por eso, en el año 2010, la
Universidad de El Salvador, con el apoyo de otras instituciones gubernamentales, no
gubernamentales e internacionales, realizó el proyecto de investigación “For mulación de una Guía Metodológica Estandarizada para deter minar la calidad ambiental
de las aguas de los ríos de El Salvador, utilizando insectos acuáticos”. A par tir de
este proyecto se adaptó una metodología tomando como base el Índice Biótico por
familias de Hilsenhof f, generando el método adaptado IBF-SV-2010, que podría ser
aplicable para El Salvador. Dichos resultados fueron entregados a las autoridades del
Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (MARN) para que gestionaran
su legalización o al menos sir vieran de base para plantear una metodología de país;
sin embargo, hasta el momento no ha sido considerado. Este aspecto, entre otros,
for ma par te de los elementos limitantes que han restringido la utilización legal de
esta metodología para evaluar la calidad ambiental de las aguas continentales en El
Salvador.
... At the same time, the species may also be expected to spread further westwards to Central America, and southwards to South America. However, while H. ephippiger appears to have been relatively successful in expanding its range in the Caribbean, other parts of the Americas may pose a greater challenge, given greater diversity of competitors (Ramírez, Paulson, & Esquivel, 2000) and predators (Garrigues & Dean, 2008;Le Bail et al., 2012). ...
Tropical America is currently experiencing the establishment of a new apex insect predator, the Paleotropical dragonfly Hemianax ephippiger (Odonata: Aeshnidae). H. ephippiger is migratory and is suggested to have colonised the eastern Neotropics by chance Trans-Atlantic displacement. We report the discovery of H. ephippiger at three new locations in the Caribbean, the islands of Bonaire, Isla de Coche (Venezuela), and Martinique, and we review its reported distribution across the Neotropics. We discuss the establishment of H. ephippiger as a new apex insect predator in the Americas, both in terms of ecological implications and the possible provision of ecosystem services. We also provide an additional new species record for Bonaire, Pantala hymenaea (Odonata: Libellulidae).
... Specimens were collected in slow-flowing water, within dense vegetation in a shaded, very humid tropical forest area (Fig. 2). Ramírez (1997) mentioned Elga leptostyla in the list of Costa Rica species, but this species was removed from the updated list by Ramírez et al. (2000) without further explanation. Therefore, this is the first confirmed record of this species based on collected specimens for the country. ...
During research in the Tirimbina Biological Reserve, on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica, we captured adult specimens and reared larvae of the dragonfly Elga leptostyla Ris, 1911, which belongs to the Libellulidae. This species was previously reported only from southern Panama to northern South America. Therefore, this is the first record of the species and genus from Costa Rica, increasing the number of Libellulidae species recorded in the country to 95. This species’ known distribution is northwards.
... In the New World, the species range from south Texas and Florida through the West Indies, and south to northern Argentina, with the highest diversity in Central America and tropical South America. Four species are recorded from Mexico, eight from Costa Rica, nine from Ecuador, nine from Mexico and Central America, and 21 from all South America (Ramírez et al. 2000, Förster 2001, Esquivel 2006, Paulson 2018. ...
El macho y la hembra de Gynacantha vargasi sp. nov. se describen de tres sitios en la vertiente caribeña de Costa Rica. La especie se distingue de sus congéneres por sus franjas torácicas laterales de color verde limón, el fémur posterior de color marrón anaranjado con el ápice negro, lado dorsal de la tibia trasera amarillo, la forma única del cerco, su comportamiento diurno, y el análisis de código de barras. Se proporciona una clave para todas las especies de Gynacantha registradas de México y América Central.
Deforestation in the tropics causes shifts in adult odonate community structure, from forests dominated by thermoconforming zygopteran specialists to open areas with higher representations of heliothermic anisopterans. We tested for these shifts in the Maquina and Cuecha rivers in Monteverde, Costa Rica. We compared adult odonate communities in 100 m plots (subdivided into twenty 5 m subplots) located in disturbed, partially open areas with those in 100 m plots located in intact forest and used general linear models to describe how odonate abundance, species richness, species diversity, and the Anisoptera/Zygoptera ratio varied among plots, subplots, habitat type (disturbed/forested), rivers, and as functions of percent canopy cover and light levels. Plots varied in light levels and percent canopy cover, but there were no significant differences in species richness or diversity. Community composition, however, varied across plots and subplots in NMDS and PERMANOVA analyses, largely as a consequence of the preference of Hetaerina cruentata and Paltothemis lineatipes for high light subplots and H. majuscula for low light subplots. NMDS axes were significantly correlated with percent canopy cover and light level in subplots, and the Anisoptera/Zygoptera ratio correlated with NMDS axes at both the plot and subplot scales, indicating that the relative abundance of anisopterans did increase with increasing light and decreasing canopy cover. Differences among plots and habitats can largely be attributed to species-specific differences in habitat selection at a small spatial scale, causing predicted shifts in the Anisoptera/Zygoptera ratio as dominance shifts from endemic forest species to wide-ranging generalists. This is one of the first studies that confirms these patterns for a cloud forest community.
In this study, we have comprehensively presented taxonomic information on all 62 known species of Heteragrion Selys, 1862, which includes illustrations, photographs, diagnostic characters, and a key to males. Our analysis is based on the examination of over 900 specimens from 19 different collections worldwide, encompassing the type material for at least 42 species. Furthermore, we have described a new species, Heteragrion corderoi sp. nov. (♂, BRAZIL, São Paulo state, Campos do Jordão, Condomínio Paradise, 24.i.1999, (Coordinates: -22.7072, -45.5894, 1796 m asl), F.A.A. Lencioni leg., LABECO), which we identified from a male that was previously considered to be a paratype of H. mantiqueirae Machado, 2006 and additional specimens collected in Campos do Jordão, São Paulo state.
O presente trabalho objetivou-se a: avaliar a importância das áreas de Veredas na predição de ocorrência das espécies de Odonata; avaliar se a riqueza de Odonata se relaciona com a distribuição de áreas de Vereda no país; conhecer a odonatofauna associada a uma Vereda no município de Uberlândia, MG; construir um checklist com dados biológicos de habitat e de distribuição.
The rate of new species descriptions of Odonata over the last 150 years yields an essentially straight line, indicating that many species are yet to be discovered within the Order. More than 5,300 species are now known, and the rates of description in the suborders Anisoptera and Zygoptera have been relatively equal. However, a decline in the number of new species appearing in the three largest families over the last six decades, despite an increasing number of authors, indicates that the Odonata are now at least half known and that fewer than 10,000 species exist worldwide.
This synopsis of Hetaerina includes descriptions of four new species (H. curvicauda, H. erythrokalamus, H. flavipennis, and H. indeprensa), keys to all males and most females, an annotated alphabetical account of all 37 presently recognized species, and illustrations of taxonomic characters for all species. The following nomenclatoral changes are proposed: Hetaerina borchgravii and H. fuscibasis are transferred to Mnesarete; H. carnifex is considered a junior synonym of H. longipes; H. donna a junior synonym of H. rosea; H. klugi and H. papavarina junior synonyms of H. laesa; H. macropus a junior synonym of H. occisa; H. sanguinolenta a junior synonym of H. hebe; H. tolteca a junior synonym of H. capitalis. The specific status of H. maxima and H. smaragdalis is questioned and they are provisionally considered the same as H. capitalis. The interstemite, a newly discovered morphological character in females, is found to vary specifically, allowing identification of most females.
This revision of adult Erpetogomphus includes a phylogenetic assessment of all 21 species using outgroup comparison and parsimony algorithm, descriptive biogeography, keys to both sexes, synonymies, descriptions, type designations, and illustrations, including distribution maps of all species. Six new species are described: E. agkistrodon, E. leptophis, E. elaphe, E. liopeltis, E. bothrops, E. heterodon. Erpetogomphus coluber is considered a junior synonym of E. compositus, E. natrix is considered a subspecies of E. lampropeltis, and a neotype is designated for E. cophias. Phylogenetic assessment of 41 mostly somatic characters shows Erpetogomphus to be partitioned into three monophyletic groups: 1) six dark green species (E. constrictor, E. sabaleticus, E. tristani, E. agkistrodon, E. schausi, E. ophibolus) with mostly allopatric or parapatric distributions along the eastern coast of Mexico south into northern Colombia and Venezuela, 2) two species (E. leptophis, E. eutainia) with distributions from southern Texas south through Mexico and up the west coast to Michoacan states, and 3) 13 remaining species (E. elaphe, E. elaps, E. liopeltis, E. bothrops, E. viperinus, E. designatus, E. sipedon, E. lampropeltis, E. crotalinus, E. heterodon, E. compositus, E. boa, E. cophias) with distributions in the central United States south through Mexico to Costa Rica. Derived characters states were gleaned mostly from primary and secondary genitalic characters (head structure, penis, hamules, caudal appendages, vulvar lamina); but satisfactory resolution of terminal clades, especially of the third group, is difficult due to apparent character reversals.
Based upon examination of types, Aphylla ambigua (Selys) is found to be a synonym of A. protracta (Hagen); and the common species ranging from southern Texas to Guatemala, previously known as A. protracta Calvert, is unnamed. Aphylla angustifolia, n. sp., is described and compared with A. protracta and A. obscura (Kirby). A key to the three species inhabiting Mexico and Central America is given and they are illustrated.
Lista de las especies de Odonata de Costa Rica que cuentan con su náyade descrita
- A. Ramírez
Elasmothemis gen. nov., a new genus related to Dythemis (Anisoptera: Libellulidae)
- M.J. Westfall
Odonata collected from Guanacaste National Park, Costa Rica, July 1988
- S.J. Brooks
A review of the genus Neocordulia, with a description of Mesocordulia subgen. nov. and of Neocordulia griphus spec. nov. from Central America, and a note on Lauromacromia (Odonata: Corduliidae)
- M.L. May
Two new species of Coryphaeschna from Middle America, and a discussion of the red species of the genus
- D.R. Paulson