Discovered a new species of dragonfly in northern Vietnam

A new species of dragonfly with scientific name Devadatta kompieri has just been published in Zootaxa magazine (No. 3941 (3): 414-420) from Tu Le, Mu Cang Chai district, Yen Bai province in northern Vietnam.

Devadatta kompieri - New dragonfly species in northern Vietnam

Devadatta was formerly of the Amphipterygidae family, but recent DNA research by Dijkstra and colleagues (2014) arranged this breed to belong to a completely new family Devadattidae. Devadattidae family of dragonfly in the world today has 6 species, distributed from southern China (Guangxi, Yunnan), Indonesia to southern Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo, Sumatra and Philippine. In Vietnam, 3 species have been discovered: D. kompieri, D. ducatrix and D. cyanocephala.

Dragonfly - Devadatta kompieri - (Photo: Phan Quoc Toan)

The new species Devadatta kompieri is similar to D. ducatrix, but they differ in the following characteristics: kompieri is smaller in size than ducatrix; the black spot on the wing tip is smaller than the ducatrix; male appendages (anal appendages) of longer kompieri, smaller ends than ducatrix species; There are 2 rows (vein rows) between the wing edge and A1 tendon in kompieri, but there are 3-4 lines in ducatrix.

The new species is named after American animal lover Tom Kompier, currently living and working in Hanoi. Tom was the one who introduced the research site to collect new species for the authors, and provided many valuable specimens for future studies.

Dragonfly - Devadatta cyanocephala - (Figure: Phan Quoc Toan)