Somatochlora

Somatochlora, or the striped emeralds,[1] is a genus of dragonflies in the family Corduliidae with 44 described species found across the Northern Hemisphere.[2]

Somatochlora
Female Somatochlora flavomaculata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Odonata
Suborder:	Epiprocta
Infraorder:	Anisoptera
Family:	Corduliidae
Genus:	Somatochlora Selys, 1871

Teneral Somatochlora metallica female

Taxonomy

The name Somatochlora is derived from the Greek soma (body) and khloros (green).[3] The species Corduliochlora borisi was formerly treated as a member of Somatochlora.[2]

Description

Newly emerged male S. albicincta on its exuvia

Members of this genus are medium-sized dragonflies with dark bodies and a metallic green lustre. The eyes are brilliant green, and many species have dull to bright yellow markings on the thorax and/or abdomen. The abdomens of males are distinctive, with the first two segments bulbous-shaped, the third constricted, and the rest of the abdomen club-shaped with a straight ending. Females have abdomens with straighter sides.[1] Identifying these dragonflies to species can be difficult.[3] The cerci of males, on the tip of the abdomen, are distinctively shaped in each species, as are the subgenital plates on female abdomens. In some species, the subgenital plate is large and projecting, and is used as a "pseudo-ovipositor" for inserting eggs into a substrate.[1]

Distribution

Illustration showing male cerci of several species of Somatochlora

Somatochlora are found across the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia and North America, with some species extending into arctic regions north of the treeline.[4] Some species extend south to Spain,[5] Turkey,[6] northern India,[7] northern Vietnam,[7] Taiwan[8] and the southern United States.[9] At least one species, S. semicircularis, may be found at altitudes of up to 3700 metres.[10] In North America, most species live in the boreal forest and/or Appalachian mountains.[3]

Life History

Mating pair of Somatochlora flavomaculata

Somatochlora larvae typically live in bogs, fens and/or forest streams, with some species found in lakes. They do not occur in marshy ponds.[1] Many species are limited to very specific habitats and are rare and local. Adults feed in flight and may occur at some distance from their breeding habitat in mixed swarms.[1]

Species

Male Somatochlora tenebrosa

Somatochlora is the most diverse group within the Corduliidae.[1] Of the 43 described species listed below, 25 are North American, 17 are Eurasian, and 1 is circumboreal (S. sahlbergi).

Species[2]	Common Name(s)[11][12][13]	Distribution
Somatochlora albicincta (Burmeister, 1839)	ringed emerald	Canada, northern United States[9]
Somatochlora alpestris (Selys, 1840)	alpine emerald	Europe and Asia[14][8]
Somatochlora arctica (Zetterstedt, 1840)	Northern emerald	Europe and Asia[14][8]
Somatochlora brevicincta Robert, 1954	Quebec emerald	Canada, northern United States[9]
Somatochlora calverti Williamson & Gloyd, 1933	Calvert's emerald	southeastern United States[9]
Somatochlora cingulata (Selys, 1871)	lake emerald	Canada, northern United States[9]
Somatochlora clavata Oguma, 1922		Japan and Korea[15]
Somatochlora daviesi Lieftinck, 1977		Bhutan, Nepal, and India[7][16][17]
Somatochlora dido Needham, 1930		China and Vietnam[7]
Somatochlora elongata (Scudder, 1866)	ski-tipped emerald, ski-tailed emerald	northeastern North America[9]
Somatochlora ensigera Martin, 1907	plains emerald	central North America[9]
Somatochlora exuberata Bartenev, 1910		Japan and eastern Russia[15]
Somatochlora filosa (Hagen, 1861)	fine-lined emerald	southeastern United States[9]
Somatochlora flavomaculata (Vander Linden, 1825)	yellow-spotted emerald	Europe[15]
Somatochlora forcipata (Scudder, 1866)	forcipate emerald	Canada, northern United States[9]
Somatochlora franklini (Selys, 1878)	delicate emerald	Canada, northern United States[9]
Somatochlora georgiana Walker, 1925	coppery emerald	eastern United States[9]
Somatochlora graeseri Selys, 1887		east Asia[15]
Somatochlora hineana Williamson, 1931	Hine's emerald	Ontario and Midwest United States[9]
Somatochlora hudsonica (Hagen in Selys, 1871)	Hudsonian emerald	western and central Canada, northwestern United States[9]
Somatochlora incurvata Walker, 1918	incurvate emerald	northeastern North America[9]
Somatochlora kennedyi Walker, 1918	Kennedy's emerald	Canada, northeastern United States[9]
Somatochlora linearis (Hagen, 1861)	mocha emerald	eastern North America[9]
Somatochlora lingyinensis Zhou & Wa, 1979		Zhejiang[8]
Somatochlora margarita Donnelly, 1962	Texas emerald	Texas and Louisiana[9]
Somatochlora meridionalis Nielsen, 1935	Balkan emerald	southeastern Europe[18]
Somatochlora metallica (Vander Linden, 1825)	brilliant emerald	Europe[7]
Somatochlora minor Calvert, 1898	ocellated emerald	Canada, northern United States[9]
Somatochlora ozarkensis Bird, 1933	Ozark emerald	Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma[9]
Somatochlora provocans Calvert, 1903	treetop emerald	southeastern United States[9]
Somatochlora sahlbergi Trybom, 1889	treeline emerald	northwestern Canada, Alaska, northern Russia, Scandinavia[9][7]
Somatochlora semicircularis (Selys, 1871)	mountain emerald	western North America[9]
Somatochlora septentrionalis (Hagen, 1861)	muskeg emerald	Canada[9]
Somatochlora shanxiensis Zhu & Zhang, 1999		Hubei, Shanxi[8]
Somatochlora shennong Zhang, Vogt & Cai, 2014		Guangxi, Hubei[8]
Somatochlora taiwana Inoue & Yokota 2001		Taiwan[8]
Somatochlora tenebrosa (Say, 1840)	clamp-tipped emerald	eastern North America[9]
Somatochlora uchidai Förster, 1909		Japan, China and Russia[19]
Somatochlora vera (Bartenev, 1914)		Asia[8]
Somatochlora viridiaenea (Uhler, 1858)		Japan, eastern Russia[15]
Somatochlora walshii (Scudder, 1866)	brush-tipped emerald	Canada, northern United States[9]
Somatochlora whitehousei Walker, 1925	Whitehouse's emerald	Canada, northwestern United States[9]
Somatochlora williamsoni Walker, 1907	Williamson's emerald	eastern North America[9]

References

1. Paulson, Dennis (2011). Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 345–346.
2. Martin Schorr; Dennis Paulson. "World Odonata List". University of Puget Sound. Retrieved 12 Oct 2018.
3. "Somatochlora (Striped Emeralds)". Living Landscapes - Dragonflies. Royal BC Museum. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
4. Cannings, S. G.; Cannings, R. A. (1985). "The larva of Somatochlora sahlbergiTrybŏm, with notes on the species in theYukon Territory, Canada (Anisoptera: Corduliidae)". Odonatologica. 14 (4): 319–330.
5. Muddeman, John; Lockwood, Mike; Farino, Teresa. "List of the Dragonflies and Damselflies (Odonata) of Spain and Portugal, including the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores". Iberian Wildlife Tours. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
6. Kalkman, Vincent J.; Wasscher, Marcel (2003). "An annotated checklist of the Odonata of Turkey". Odonatologica. 32 (3): 215–236.
7. "IUCN Red List Species Summaries". IUCN Red List. IUCN. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
8. Zhang, Hao-Miao; Vogt, Timothy E.; Cai, Qing-hua (2014). "Somatochlora shennong sp. nov. from Hubei, China (Odonata: Corduliidae)". Zootaxa.
9. "NatureServe Species Pages". NatureServe Explorer. NatureServe. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
10. Willey, Ruth L. (1974). "Emergence Patterns of the Subalpine Dragonfly Somatochlora Semicircularis (Odonata: Corduliidae)". Psyche. 81 (1): 121–133.
11. "Checklist, English common names". DragonflyPix.com. Archived from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
12. "Checklist of UK Species". British Dragonfly Society. Retrieved 28 May 2011.
13. "North American Odonata". University of Puget Sound. 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
14. De Knijf, Geert; Flenker, Ulrich; Vanappelghem, Ceedric; Manci, Cosmin O.; Kalkman, Vincent J.; Demolder, Heidi (2011). "The status of two boreo-alpine species, Somatochlora alpestris and S. arctica, in Romania and their vulnerability to the impact of climate change (Odonata: Corduliidae)". International Journal of Odonatology. 14 (2): 111–126.
15. "GBIF Species Mapping". GBIF. GBIF. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
16. Kalkman, V.J.; Babu, R.; Bedjanic, M.; Conniff, K.; Gyeltshen, T.; Khan, M.K.; Subramanian, K.A.; Zia, A.; Orr, A.G. (2020). "Checklist of the dragonflies and damselflies (Insecta: Odonata) of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka". Zootaxa. 4849 (1): 001–084. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4849.1.1. hdl:10072/398768.
17. Asahina, S (1982). "A new Somatochlora from Nepal (Corduliidae)". Tombo. 25: 15–18.
18. Holusa, Otakar (2009). "Notes to the first record of Somatochlora meridionalis (Odonata: Corduliidae) in the Czech Republic". Acta Mus. Beskid. 1: 89–95.
19. "Somatochlora uchidai". Odonata of Japan. Retrieved 11 March 2020.