Introduction
Libellago corbeti (Ebony Gem) is an endemic damselfly first identified in
July 2007 from two male specimens seen near Kudawe and later on another two females from
same locality in April 2008. It was described as a new species by Nancy van der
Poorten in 2009 (van der Poorten, N., 2009). Additional sightings of it from the
type locality as well as from several other forests of the south western wet
zone were recorded subsequently (van der Poorten, N., 2011). Those additional
places are -
1)
Near the start of the Moulawella nature trail, river
running down from the Kudawa entry point and near the stream beside research
station in the Sinharaja forest reserve.
2)
A stream in the Haycock hill – Hiniduma.
3)
A stream in the Morapitiya forest reserve.
4)
A stream near entrance of Kanneliya forest
reserve.
5) A specimen collected in 1892 by Col. Yerbury from
Kottawa (Probably the Kottawa forest reserve of Galle) and now deposited at
Natural History Museum London.
Observation
During a field visit to the Katepola, a remote village in
Rathnapura district on 25th of December 2013 we could photograph a male
specimen of Libellago corbeti in a stream - a upper tributary of Kalu river - beside a rubber plantation. Eventhough the stream running through rubber
estates and home gardens, stream itself and banks are well wooded and home to
considerable number of fauna and flora including several endemics. Libellago corbeti both males and females have been observed in that stream since May 2013 (Ishara Harshajith Wijewardhane, Personal communication, December
25, 2013)
Discussion
Hitherto
all published records of Libellago corbeti are from dense rain
forest streams and this might be the first sighting of it from a disturbed
habitat and also from a site with least protection from environmental authorities,
unlike all other places mentioned above with considerable protection under the
law. This record of it from
further north of the type locality and all other additional places indicates that
it might be distributed in wider area and also not very rare as previously thought. Currently it is categorized as a critically endangered species (van Der Porten
N. & Karen Conniff , 2012)
References
van der Poorten, N., 2009. Libellago corbeti sp. nov. from
Sri Lanka (Odonata: Chlorocyphidae). International Journal of Odonatology 12
(2): 223-230, pl. V.
van der Poorten, N., 2011. Additional records of Libellago
corbeti van der poorten, 2009 in Sri Lanka with additional comparative notes on
behavior. Agrion Newsletter of the worldwide dragonfly association 15(1): 18-20.
