Studies on neotropical Protoneuridae. 9. Phasmoneura ciganae Santos, conspecific with Phasmoneura sancta (Hagen) comb. n. (Zygoptera)

When E.B. WILLIAMSON (1915a, Proc. U.S. natn. Mus. 48: 601-638; 1915b, Em. News 27(1): 30-33) split the Selysian subgenus Protoneura into five genera, the correct identification of the 10 species referred by E. SELYS LONGCHAMPS (1886, Mem. Cour. Acad. Belg. 38: III+233 pp.) to this subgenus, became a challenge to the odonatologists. Thanks to the works of E.B. WILLIAMSON (1915a, loc.cit.); J. COWLEY & L.K. GLOYD (1938, Occ. Pap. Mus. Zoo!. Univ. Mich. 378: 1-18); M.J. WESTFALL (1964, Quart. J. Fla Acad. Sci. 17(2): 111-119); and A.B.M. MACHADO (1984, Odonatologica 13(4): 585- -589; 1985, ibidem 14(3): 211-217; 1985. ibidem 14(4): 363-368), most of these species can now be identified with certainty. However, the identity of Protoneura sancta Hagen in Selys, placed by E.B. WILLIAMSON (1915a, loc.cit.) in his genus Psaironeura, remained problematic since its original diagnosis is very laconic and lacks illustrations. The species has been described based on a single female from "Lagoa Santa (Venezuela), par Lund” — an obvious mistake, later corrected by SELYS (1886, loc.cit.) to “Laboa Santa (Bresil) par Lund". Indeed this is one of the few examples of a dragonfly collected by the famous Danish paleontologist Peter Wilhelm Lund who. in the middle of the last century, lived in Lagoa Santa, a village situated about 50 km N of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. The vegetation around Lagoa Santa by the time Lund lived there was studied in detail by the Danish botanist Eugenio Warming. It consisted mainly of cerrado (a sort of savanna) and small forested areas in valleys and along the rivers. Although the cerrado still exists, the forest has been almost completely destroyed. In order to try obtaining topotypes of P. sancta, for several years we have looked for protoneurids, mainly along the rivers and streams of this region, finding only Peristicta aeneoviridis and three species of Neoneura. Finally, within a small forest remnant at Fazenda Jaguara, not far from Lagoa Santa, we found a population of Phasmoneura ciganae Santos, in a shady rivulet with marshy banks. This finding and a good agreement of P. ciganae females with the laconic description of P. sancta led me to conclude that they were most probably conspecific. It was then that, at Ibirite. about 80 km from Lagoa Santa, I found a new species of Phasmoneura, coexisting with P. ciganae in the same forest. Thus, the possibility that the new species could actually be P. sancla could not be ruled out. However, thanks to the help of Dr Rosser Garrison (Azusa, CA, USA) 1 had access to drawings of pertinent characters made by him of the holotype of P. sancla, deposited in Hagen's collection at the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University. The presence of CUP prolonged beyond the crossvein descending from the subnodus shows that the species does not belong in Psaironeura where it has been placed by E.B. WILLIAMSON (1915a, loc.cit). This venetional character could indicate that P. sancta belongs to Epipleoneura. However, the species of this genus never show the lateral prothoracic tubercle, as present in the holotype of P. sancla and in most species of Phasmoneura, including P ciganae. On the other hand, a prolonged CUP has been described by SANTOS (1968, Alas Soc. Biol. Rio de J. Il: 221-226) in lOOÇf of the females P. ciganae. Indeed the drawings kindly sent me by Dr Rosser Garrison showed that P. ciganae and not the new species from Ibirité is P. sancla. This is consistent with the fact that, in spile of intense search, only P. ciganae was found in the type locality of sancta, i.e. the region of Lagoa Santa. Taking all that under consideration, 1 am now transfering Psaironeura sancta (Hagen in Selys) to the genus Phasmoneura and making Phasmoneura ciganae Santos a synonym of it.