New damselfly species found in Kerala’s Western Ghats

Key facts

• A new species of spreadwing damselfly, Lestes paloti, was discovered in the Western Ghats of Kerala.
• The discovery is the first new Lestes species from the Western Ghats since 1929 and the first from India since 1987.
• The species is named after Muhamed Jafer Palot, a scientist at the Zoological Survey of India, Kozhikode.
• Lestes paloti has been recorded in six districts of Kerala: Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram, Palakkad, and Ernakulam.
• The study resolved a long-standing taxonomic error, confirming that earlier records of Lestes nodalis from southern India were misidentifications of Lestes paloti.
• The damselfly inhabits scrub vegetation around homesteads and laterite hillocks, often away from open water bodies, and changes color from brown during the dry season to bluish during the monsoon.
• Kerala's odonate fauna now comprises 192 species in 87 genera and 14 families, including 81 species endemic to the Western Ghats.