PHYLOGENY OF ENALLAGMA AND RELATED COENAGRIONIDAE (ODONATA).

M.L. May. Department of Entomology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA

The zygopteran genus Enallagma has been the subject of numerous behavioural and ecological studies, but phylogenetic relationships among species have been examined only within eastern North America (Brown et al., 2000). Even the composition and diagnosis of the genus are unclear on a worldwide basis. Most authorities currently recognize about seventy species within Enallagma, including major radiations in North America and in Africa. This study, using morphological data, demonstrates that the North American and a few related Palaearctic species form a monophyletic group distinct from the African species. The latter are themselves divided into at least three, and probably four separate clades, one possibly related to E. parvum of India. Consequently, three of Kennedy's long disused genera, Africallagma, Amphiallagma, and Proischnura (Kennedy, 1920) are resurrected and two new genera are established for the remaining African taxa. Finally, Enallagma is divided into two subgenera, Enallagma s.s., the typical "bluets", including many North American, Holarctic, and Palearctic species, and a second comprising a group of species of more variable colour that is confined to North America, the Caribbean and northernmost South America.