NEW AND RARE ODONATA FROM THE 

 NILGIRI HILLS. 



By Major F. C. Fraser, I. M.S. 



(Plate I.) 



The Odonate fauna of the Nilgiris is of more than ordinary 

 interest in that these hills have furnished some of the earliest 

 known types of Dragonflies. 



The Nilgiris were first explored by Europeans in 1822 and 

 Rambur described several species of dragonflies in 1842 which had 

 been collected from those hills during the two decades which had 

 elapsed. 



Unfortunately the descriptions given by this entomologist, 

 although good, are often not too exact and lead to doubt as to 

 what particular insect was described, especially in a case where 

 there are several insects closely similar. Amongst these latter is 

 the description of Indoneura gomphoides (Argia gomphoides Ramb.) 

 which was obviously made from an immature insect and which 

 does not give the exact measurements. 



The Baron de Selys in his Synopsis des Agrionines, p. 20, 1842, 

 redescribed I. gomphoides and gave the measurements of the 

 abdomen and hindwing. It is evident that he knew the type 

 and made his description from it, for in 1886, in his Revision des 

 Agrionines, p. 171, he described under the same name, two speci- 

 mens which he had received from Mr. McLachlan and, concerning 

 them, noted that they differed from the type by being larger, by 

 having the wings more rounded and Cu l rather longer. This 

 implies a close* personal comparison of two types and leaves no 

 doubt as to which was the original of Indoneura gomphoides, viz. 

 the smaller of the two species. 



Of the two other closely related species found in the Nilgiris 

 Disparoneura canningi Fraser has no blue markings and Disparo- 

 neura westermanni Hagen is much larger than either of the two 

 species described by Selys. 



During the last decade I have had several opportunities of 

 collecting and examining large numbers of specimens of Indoneura 

 over a wide range of the Nilgiris, and I find that there are two very 

 distinct types of I. gomphoides as described by Selys, the smaller 

 of which is undoubtedly Rambur's type, and the larger a new 

 species for which I propose the name Indoneura ramburi. 



Indoneura gomphoides (Ramb). 



Argia gomphoides, Ramb , Ins. Nevrop.. p. 256 (1842); Alloneura et 

 Disparoneura gomphoides, Selys, Syn. des Agrionines, p. 448 (i860) 



