Spoon-tailed duskhawker: Arunachal find fattens India’s dragonfly list

Guwahati: The discovery of the spoon-tailed duskhawker (Gynacantha basiguttata) in Arunachal Pradesh has expanded India's dragonfly species list. A team of five researchers, comprising R. Mahesh and Rajesh Gopinath from Karnataka, Dattaprasad Sawant from Maharashtra, Gaurav Joshi from Uttarakhand, and Roshan Upadhaya from Arunachal Pradesh, found photographic evidence of the dragonfly in Namdapha National Park and Tiger Reserve in October 2024.

The male dragonfly was initially identified as Gynacantha khasiaca but was later corrected to be the spoon-tailed duskhawker, originally found in the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia. The identification was based on distinct morphological features such as a black T-shaped mark on the forehead, an olive-green thorax without a stripe, unique wing pigmentation, and thin, expanded cerci resembling a spoon.

Despite the presence of older records of G. basiguttata in India, they were not considered valid due to the lack of physical specimens. The researchers, adhering to forest regulations, did not collect any specimens. The Odonata order, which encompasses dragonflies and damselflies, now includes the spoon-tailed duskhawker after the verification of the findings.