Scientific name : Caconeura risi (Fraser, 1931)
Common name : Wayanad Bambootail
Malayalam name : വയനാടൻ മുളവാലൻ
Family : Platycnemididae
Place of observation: Kadavoor, Kothamangalam - Kerala
Place of observation: Kadavoor, Kothamangalam - Kerala
Date of observation: 25-11- 2018
Male: Abdomen 37-38 mm Hind-wing 23-24 mm
Female: Abdomen 37-38 mm. Hind-wing 23-24 mm.
Male.- Abdomen 37-38 mm. Hind-wing 23-24 mm.
Head: labium white; labrum, ante- and postclypeus steely metallic blue-black; bases of mandibles brownish; genre azure blue, marked with a large glossy black median spot; rest of head black, but the frons traversed by a broad azure blue band confluent with the blue of the genre; head beneath occiput pale azure blue; eyes deep marine blue, capped with black. Prothorax black, the anterior lobe entirely azure blue, the middle lobe broadly blue laterally, this colour extending as broadband for the whole length of lobe; dorsum and posterior lobe unmarked. Thorax velvety black on dorsum as far lateral as the middle of mesepimeron, and
marked with a pair of azure blue antehumeral, narrow, slightly curved stripes, the inner border of which is slightly concave, the outer convex; laterally pale blue, marked with a fusiform black stripe which occupies the middle two-fourths of the posterior border of mesepimeron; beneath thorax pale greenish-blue, unmarked. Legs pale brown or dirty white, the femora mottled with black on the extensor surface, more broadly so at the distal ends; tibiae with the extensor surface pale bluish; tarsi black; coxae and trochanters pale blue. Wings hyaline, palely enfumed in adults, petiolated as far as a little proximal to ac; pterostigma black,
almost quadrate, not diamond-shaped, braced; the nervures lying nearest the distalante nodal nervure or about halfway between the two ante nodaIs in the hind-wing; abfeebly arched and short; 19 to 21 postnodal nervures in fore-wings, 19 in the hind. Abdomen black, marked with blue as follows: Segment 1 almost entirely blue, marked on the dorsum with a moderately broad black band, extending the whole length of the segment; segment 2 broadly blue at the sides, especially apically; segments 3 to 7 with narrow blue basal annules, narrowest on the first and last of these segments; segments 8 to 10 entirely blue, except for a very narrow apical black border and the lower part of sides of segment 10. (The abdomen in this species is very narrow, and only about two-fifths longer than the wings.) Anal appendages rather longer than segment 10, of equal length; superiors black, of the usual generic shape, broad at the base, lower border markedly angulated and bayonet-shaped, superior process about one-third the length of the inferior, which is directed straight back and of only moderate length, it s extreme apex directed slightly downwards; inferior appendages brownish-black or paler, directed almost horizontally straight back or but slightly downward, broad at the base, then tapered and tonguelike as seen in profile, the apex not visible from this direction, but turned horizontally and abruptly inward to end in an acute point.
Female unknown.
Distribution.- WESTERN GHATS; foothills of the Malabar Wynaad, near Tamaracherri, at about 500 ft., during the months of May to August. Found amidst dense jungle in densely shaded streams, and, although local, is not a common insect. Distinguished from other species by its small size, by having the under the surface of the head is blue, and by tiny. spine near the base of the superior anal appendages beneath.
It is endemic to the Western Ghats of India.
Male: Abdomen 37-38 mm Hind-wing 23-24 mm
Female: Abdomen 37-38 mm. Hind-wing 23-24 mm.
Male.- Abdomen 37-38 mm. Hind-wing 23-24 mm.
Head: labium white; labrum, ante- and postclypeus steely metallic blue-black; bases of mandibles brownish; genre azure blue, marked with a large glossy black median spot; rest of head black, but the frons traversed by a broad azure blue band confluent with the blue of the genre; head beneath occiput pale azure blue; eyes deep marine blue, capped with black. Prothorax black, the anterior lobe entirely azure blue, the middle lobe broadly blue laterally, this colour extending as broadband for the whole length of lobe; dorsum and posterior lobe unmarked. Thorax velvety black on dorsum as far lateral as the middle of mesepimeron, and
marked with a pair of azure blue antehumeral, narrow, slightly curved stripes, the inner border of which is slightly concave, the outer convex; laterally pale blue, marked with a fusiform black stripe which occupies the middle two-fourths of the posterior border of mesepimeron; beneath thorax pale greenish-blue, unmarked. Legs pale brown or dirty white, the femora mottled with black on the extensor surface, more broadly so at the distal ends; tibiae with the extensor surface pale bluish; tarsi black; coxae and trochanters pale blue. Wings hyaline, palely enfumed in adults, petiolated as far as a little proximal to ac; pterostigma black,
almost quadrate, not diamond-shaped, braced; the nervures lying nearest the distalante nodal nervure or about halfway between the two ante nodaIs in the hind-wing; abfeebly arched and short; 19 to 21 postnodal nervures in fore-wings, 19 in the hind. Abdomen black, marked with blue as follows: Segment 1 almost entirely blue, marked on the dorsum with a moderately broad black band, extending the whole length of the segment; segment 2 broadly blue at the sides, especially apically; segments 3 to 7 with narrow blue basal annules, narrowest on the first and last of these segments; segments 8 to 10 entirely blue, except for a very narrow apical black border and the lower part of sides of segment 10. (The abdomen in this species is very narrow, and only about two-fifths longer than the wings.) Anal appendages rather longer than segment 10, of equal length; superiors black, of the usual generic shape, broad at the base, lower border markedly angulated and bayonet-shaped, superior process about one-third the length of the inferior, which is directed straight back and of only moderate length, it s extreme apex directed slightly downwards; inferior appendages brownish-black or paler, directed almost horizontally straight back or but slightly downward, broad at the base, then tapered and tonguelike as seen in profile, the apex not visible from this direction, but turned horizontally and abruptly inward to end in an acute point.
Female unknown.
Distribution.- WESTERN GHATS; foothills of the Malabar Wynaad, near Tamaracherri, at about 500 ft., during the months of May to August. Found amidst dense jungle in densely shaded streams, and, although local, is not a common insect. Distinguished from other species by its small size, by having the under the surface of the head is blue, and by tiny. spine near the base of the superior anal appendages beneath.
It is endemic to the Western Ghats of India.
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| Male |
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| Male |
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| Male face to face |
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| Male - Eyes and dorsal Thorax |
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| Egg laying |
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