Taxonomic Studies of The Two Families Gomphidae and Macromiidae

and species are provided. In addition, diagnosis, world distribution and material examined were given for each species. Also, type genera, type species and type locality are given. The status of the species was discussed.

Family Gomphidae is represented globally by 966 species under 92 genera of which 127 species belonging to 33 genera are distributed in the Palearctic region.On the other hand, the family Macromiidae is represented by 122 species within four genera worldwide with six species under two genera recorded from the Palearctic region (Kalkman et al. 2008).
Selys (1887) listed 24 species of the order Odonata in Egyptian fauna, from which four species under two genera (Onychogomphus hagenii Selys, O. lefebvrii Rambur, O. pumilio Rambur, and Lindenia tetraphylla Van der Linden) are belonging to family Gomphidae and no records of Macromiidae were reported.In Egypt, the two families were studied earlier by Andrés (1928) who recorded two genera and two species (Paragomphus pumilio Rambur and Macromia africana Selys which currently valid as Phyllomacromia africana (Selys, 1871)), one in each family.Then, Morton (1929) added a new species; Mesogomphus sinaiticus which is currently valid as Paragomphus sinaiticus (Morton, 1929) under the family Gomphidae during his expedition in the Sinai Peninsula, Suez, and Palestine.After a while, Shoukry (1979), the first prevalent work on the order, recorded three species under three genera; Onychogomphus hagenii Selys, Paragomphus pumilio Rambur belonging to the family Gomphidae and Macromia africana Selys within Macromiidae.More recently, Boudot et al. (2009) listed only the genus Paragomphus including the two species; P. sinaiticus (Morton) and P. pumilio (Rambur) under the family Gomphidae.
In fact, Identification and description of Odonates is a worldwide trend.Bybee et al. (2016) stated that the African continent is among the least explored areas and is likely to contain large numbers of anonym species of Odonata.Recently, Fischer et al. (2019) mentioned that the available data on the Odonata of Egypt is very poor.This indicated the need for a comprehensive taxonomic review of Odonata of Egypt in order to keep pace with the global directions.Thus, the current work is considered the first contribution and deals with the two families Gomphidae and Macromiidae from Egypt.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This work is based on the specimens which were conserved in the subsequent Egyptian reference insect collections: Ain Shams University, Faculty of Science, Department of Entomology (ASUC); Cairo University, Faculty of Science, Department of Entomology (CUC); Ministry of Agriculture, Plant Protection Institute, Identification Section (MAC).
Different body parts were measured with a graduated ruler and a calibrated ocular lens standardized at units (ocular micrometer) using a stereomicroscope at magnifications 100x to 400x.
All pictures of the morphological characters of the keys were captured by a 12megapixel camera 1080p with magnification power 50x to 1200x supported with 10 adjustable LED lights (8 built-in & 2 side lights).

Key to Egyptian Species of Genus Paragomphus:
1. Pterostigma brown, thorax marked heavily with complete dark blackish or brown stripes laterally, male inferior anal appendages distinctly separated from superior anal appendages (Fig. 1-A

Diagnosis:
Length: Body: 37-50 mm, Hind wing: 21-26 mm., Abdomen: 30-36 mm.Female with a row of small black denticles on the rear of occiput; superior anal appendages slender, at least one-half times the length of segment 10, apices of superior anal appendages parallel dorsally, inferior anal appendages almost as long as or longer than segment10, not so strongly curved upwards.

Remark:
• Paragomphus sinaiticus is not deposited in Egyptian collections.Measurements and diagnosis were taken after the original description by Morton (1929)

Diagnosis:
Eyes meet for a distance; triangles in fore and hind wings dissimilar in shape, triangle in fore wing farther for a distance from arculus than the triangle in hind wing, most costal and subcostal crossveins in line, two primary antenodals absent, all antenodals of the same thickness, hind wing has three or more cubito anal cross veins, no brace vein behind proximal end of stigma; all tibiae with membranous keel on the flexor surface; ovipositor with vestigial lateral valves.

DISCUSSION
Field trips in 49 different localities within 11 Egyptian governorates (Alexandria, Aswan, Beni Suief, Cairo, Fayoum, Gharbia, Giza, Kafer El Sheikh, Qalyubia, Marsa Matrouh, South Sinai) were conducted in the period from October 2020 to July 2023 but no specimens from the two families were captured.In fact, Riservato et al. (2009) in their work on the status of Odonata of the Mediterranean basin listed four species as regionally extinct (according to the IUCN Red List classification system) one of them is Phyllomacromia africana (Selys, 1871) as it hasn't been collected since the beginning of the 20 th century.In addition, Schneider and Schneider (2012) noted that Phyllomacromia africana (Selys) (family Macromiidae) and Paragomphus pumilio (Rambur) (family Gomphidae) hadn't been sighted and the former may have disappeared since its last report in Andrés (1928).This is in agreement with our results where no specimens were collected during the recent field trips.Pollution and loss of habitat may be the main reasons for these species' disappearance (Riservato et al. 2009).Otherwise, recently Fischer et al. (2019) collected Paragomphus pumilio (Rambur, 1842) from Lake Nasser for the first time in the last 35 year and thus more surveys in different localities and seasons is recommended to accurately determine the status of the species.
Also, Shoukry (1979) synonymized the three species Onychogomphus genei O. costae Selys, 1885 andO. lefebvrii (Rambur, 1842) to O. hagenii.The former species is currently synonyms to Paragomphus genei according to the World List of Odonata (Paulson et al. 2023) and the World Catalogue of Odonata (Steinmann 2013).The latter two species are valid names, but O. costae Selys, 1885 is not represented in our fauna as it was not mentioned in the previous works by Selys (1887), Navás (1909), Ris (1912), Andrés (1928), Kimmins (1950), Dumont (1980), Boudot et al. (2009), Dijkstra and Boudot (2010) and IUCN (2023).Onychogomphus lefebvrii (Rambur, 1842) was mentioned in the list of Selys (1887) without designated locality and it is not yet collected from Egyptian fauna, thus its presence is still uncertain (Dijkstra, 2023).All these species are not represented in our collections and have not been collected since their first record in Egypt.
In this work, the presence of Lindenia tetraphylla in our fauna is considered doubtful where Schorr et al. (1998) in their review on the species assured that Selys (1887) in his list mentioned the presence of the species in Egypt without any specific locality.In addition, both Andrés (1928) and Dumont (1980) didn't confirm its presence in the Egyptian fauna.
As a result of the previous data, the Egyptian fauna of the family Gomphidae comprises three species within the genus Paragomphus Cowley (P.genei, P. pumilio and P. sinaiticus).About Macromiidae, only one species Phyllomacromia africana is recorded.
.The diagnosis was written according to the original description by Sélys (1841).