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IAD annual report 2004
(2004)
After this issue you will have a new editor at the helm: Dr Volker Framenau. As you have been reading in the newsletters Volker has a background in both taxonomy and ecology. A network across both disciplines should help keep us well informed of the latest news and research within the region. Volker is very enthusiastic about the society and I encourage members to keep supporting the newsletter by sending him your articles. Volker has been helping me develop the webpage so that will continue to evolve.
The Azores are of bryological interest in many respects: They are young volcanic islands with an age between 4 mio and 40.000 years, are situated in an hyperoceanic environment favouring bryophyte growth, the bryophyte flora is composed of European, Neotropical, African and subantarctic elements, there are about as many bryophyte species as flowering plants, the islands have a comparably high rate of endemic species (on single Azorean islands, all Azorean islands or the Macaronesian islands), and the bryophyte flora gives an impression of the bryophyte flora of continental Europe during Tertiary, since many species such as Echinodium spp. or Andoa berthelotiana, known as fossils from the Tertiary of continental Europe, survived here the glaciation periods and got extinct in Europe.
65 species of Odonata are recorded from Mulanje and its slopes. Only eight species dominate on the high plateau. Among them are two relict species of conservation concern: The endemic Oreocnemis phoenix (monotypic genus) and the restricted-range species Chlorolestes elegans. The absence of mountain marsh specialists on the plateau is noteworthy. Mulanje’s valleys, of which Likabula and Ruo are best known, have a rich dragonfly fauna. The Eastern Arc relict Nepogomphoides stuhlmanni is common here.
Records of 33 species of Odonata from Ankarafantsika National Park are presented. Four additional species have been reported in the literature. Nineteen species are recorded from the site for the first time. The site is the largest remaining block of dry forest in Madagascar’s Western Region. While 80% of Madagascar Odonata species are endemic, only 40% of the species recorded in Ankarafantsika is endemic. Moreover, the endemics recorded are mostly common throughout the island. The dry forests are thus of relatively little importance for Madagascar’s diversity of Odonata.