STUDIES ON THE ODONATA FAUNA OF BASTAR, MADHYA PRADESH

Dastar is one of the biggest district of Madhya Pradesh, India, situated at the south-east buondry of the State. It lies between 80°15' to 82°1S' East longitudes and 17°46' to 20°34' North latitudes. Bastar district is bordered by Maharashtra in the west, Andhra Pradesh in the south and Orissa in the east (see Map). It covers an area of 39,060 sq. kms. and its Administrative Centre is Jagdalpur. Approximately one-third of the district is covered by thick-forests, with hilly tract. It ranges from 49 to 1276 metres in height. Monsoon starts from June and extond up to October. The average annual rain fall amounts to I,S21 mm, and temperature varies in between 19°c to 31°c. The varied ecological conditions provide excelleni habitats including rivers, hill-streams and permanent/temporary water-bodies for the breeding of Odonata.


INTRODUCTION
Dastar is one of the biggest district of Madhya Pradesh, India, situated at the south-east buondry of the State. It lies between 80°15' to 82°1S' East longitudes and 17°46' to 20°34' North latitudes. Bastar district is bordered by Maharashtra in the west, Andhra Pradesh in the south and Orissa in the east (see Map). It covers an area of 39,060 sq. kms. and its Administrative Centre is Jagdalpur. Approximately one-third of the district is covered by thick-forests, with hilly tract. It ranges from 49 to 1276 metres in height. Monsoon starts from June and extond up to October. The average annual rain fall amounts to I,S21 mm, and temperature varies in between 19°c to 31°c.
The varied ecological conditions provide excelleni habitats including rivers, hill-streams and permanent/temporary water-bodies for the breeding of Odonata.
No comprehensive work is available dealing with the Odonata of Madhya Pradesh and Bastar district in particular. Fraser (1933Fraser ( , 1934Fraser ( and 1936 in the Fauna Df British Indio, Odonata, has described 19 species of Odonata from Madhya Pradesh. Bhasin (1953), after a gap of 17 years, has reported 9 species from Madhya Pradesh. Baijal and Agarwal (195S) have also reported 14 species of Odonata from the State. Recently Srivastava and Suribabu (1984, , Suri Babu (1983) and Suri Babu and Srivastava (19B8) and Suri Babu et al. (1992) have described the reproductive behaviour and larvae of 13 species of Odonata from Madhya Pradesh State. Mitra (1986 and1995), while reporting Odonata from Central India, has reported 39 species of Odonata from Madhya Pradesb and in (1995) he has also reported 22 species from the Indravati Tiger Reserve of this district.
To prepare a comprehensive account on the Odonata fauna of Bastar district, the author has made a detailed study of the specimens present in the National Zoological Collections of the Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. Besides, the author himself conducted a survey trip in Bastar during November, 1988 and coJlected several

TIRATH.GARH
Map of Bastar district, Madhya Pradesh sbowio8 the collection lites. M. P. 167 species. This study reveals the occurrence of 66 species and subspecies under 38 genera and 10 families from there. Of these 43 species and subspecies are common with the Western Himalaya (Kumar and Prasad, 1981 ), and 44 species and subspecies with Bihar (Prasad and Varshney, 1988), which are adjacent to Madhya Pradesh. In the present paper the classification of Tobin (1984 and and Tsuda (1991) has been followed, and the nomenclature is in accordance with the Check-list of the Odonata of India (Prasad and Varshney, 1995
Nervure Ae nearer to 1st antenodal nervure. 11 postnodal nervures present in forewings and 9 in hind, while in female 12 postnodal in forewings and 10 in hindwings. 9th and 10th abdominal segments in male marked wi.th creamy white. Anal appendages in male are cream-yellow with tips black. Ventral portion of superior anal appendages broadly black.

Measurements:
Abdomen Male : 32'00 mm Remarks: It is one of the most common damselfly of India which occurs throughout the year, Nervure Ac present slightly distal to 1st antenodal nervures and pterostigma cover 1 cell 10-11 postnodal nervures present in forewings and 9 in hjndwings.