Dragonfly fauna of the province of Tarragona, Spain

Tarragona is the southernmost province in Catalunya, NE Spain, and contains the lower course of the river Ebro with its delta, the littoral of the Mediterranean Sea, and the mountainous hinterland. Suitable dragonfly habitats are scarce, and most of the streams are not permanent. The dragonfly fauna of this region has hitherto not been studied in detail, but there are several interesting records, mainly basing on the work by Cuni y Matorel in the late 19th century and Navas in the early years of the present century (for a review cf. F.J. OCHARAN LARONDO, 1987, Los odonatos de Asturias y de España: aspectos sistemáticos y faunisticos. PhD thesis. Univ. Oviedo). Recent observations from Tarragona were published by D. GRAND ( 1990, Notul. odonatol. 3: 75), D. CHELMICK (1992, Kimminsia 3: 13-14), and M. BRÀNDLE & M.-O. RODEL (1994, Em. Z. 104: 145-156). In 1992 and 1993, 1 had the opportunity to observe dragonflies in Tarragona for several months. A detailed analysis of the Catalan material is in preparation. In the present paper a preliminary checklist is provided on the basis of records from 23 systematically visited localities.