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On 25 August 2002 in North-eastern Turkey, we found a male Aeshna juncea with extensive yellow on the thorax. I had seen such males in the collection of the RMNH which were collected by Gert-Jan van Pelt also near Erzurum, but in the hand it was even more obvious. The male (right) has more yellow on its side of the thorax as the nominal subspecies. Also there is a large yellow spot present between the hind legs (under the thorax). . |
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| The habitat were the male was caught: a valley South of Boyaz near Palandöken, south of Erzurum, at 2700 m a.s.l.. |  |
| A number of subspecies has been described within Central-Asia. But Oleg Kosterin wrote me. "Russian literature seems to speak nothing of such unique dragonflies". Furthermore Jean-Pierre Boudot send me a picture of a female of Aeshna juncea. As shown below this one has no sign of such extensive yellow markings. | |
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Photo of a female of Aeshna juncea from the Çam Geçidi / Savsat area (2000 m a.s.l., 41.2101890° Lat N / 42.4808970° Long. E as decimal degrees in the WGS84 geodesic system). Made by Jean-Pierre Boudot |
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| We also took a look at
the individuals collected by
Gert Jan van Pelt present in the
Leyden museum, The Netherlands (RMNH).
The scans are presented below. It turns out the other male from Erzurum has a different yellow pattern on the thorax. Although both have extensive yellow on their thorax, it must be attributed to the southern locality rather than a different subspecies. Two males from the Savsat area had normal markings. |
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Four
males Aeshna juncea from
Eastern Turkey: |
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Erzurum 2002 |
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Erzurum 1996 |
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Savsat 1997 |
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Senkaya 1993 |
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map with locations (click here to go to whole map) |
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