SB08 - Urothemistinae
The Urothemistinae are one of the few remaining true sub-families in the Family Libellulidae; In other words the genera listed here are all quite closely related. The genera are:
- Selysiothemis - 1 species (S. nigra) Spain through to Turkey and the Middle east
- Urothemis - about 8 species African
- Macrodiplax - 2 species one (M. balteatus) Southern USA to Venezuela. one (M. cora) Middle East to Australia
Selysiothemis nigra
The top row specimens are from water tanks in Almeria is Spain where this insect is very common. The bottom row are from a temporary lake near Fujeirah in the UAE. As you can see the Spanish ones are very pretty whilst the UAE specimens are rather dark. They are also quite variable in size. These specimens are all about 17- 18 mm long. My friend Richard Seidenbusch tells me that the ones from Turkey can be as large as 20 mm long
Macrodiplax
The top row is Macrodiplax cora (from the Middle east) The bottom row is M. balteatus which was collected along the southern coast of Florida. The pictures are not to scale and both insects are very similar in size (about 20 mm long). The only obvious difference between the two species is that M. balteatus is much more heavily marked
Urothemis
These two species are both found in the Middle east. Top row Urothemis edwardsi from Dhofar and (bottom row) U. thomasi from UAE and Oman. U. thomasi has only recently been discovered in the Middle East and the published description of the exuviae is soon to be published for the first time. As you can see it is a very heavily marked insect whilst its co-gener is much more spiny but with few markings